When you can't explain
by TiedToReality
Summary: Ed and Al have finally returned home from Xing. On the same night, Ed proposes to Winry properly and all seems right in the world. Then, a month later while Al is staying with them, he tells them about a rumor centered around an eerie house. He convinces Ed to go investigate with him. Once they return, Al isn't the same. Where did the sweet Al go? Spoilers for ending of fma:b
1. Chapter 1

**The ritual thing is kind of based off of the story please don't actually try this, though without the modern devices. This is rated teen for scary moments and slight language. You have been warned.**

**Disclaimer: I'm not even Japanese...**

"Brother!" Al called, smiling cheerfully as he raced towards me. He tackled me in a giant bear hug without giving me any time to close the front door. The hug was so strong I got pushed to the ground.

"Guess there's no need to shout 'I'm home'." I joked, smiling back at him. Winry raced down the stairs and helped me up.

"Geez Al, you didn't have to tackle him." She said, noticing the dirt on my shirt from the not yet clean floors. She must have been annoyed knowing she'd have to wash it later. It wasn't long until Al noticed too.

"Heh, sorry. Don't worry, I'll soon have my own place and I wont be a burden anymore." I glared at him, not pleased at all that he viewed himself that way.

"Oh nonsense, Al. We love having you stay with us." Winry assured him. It's been two years since me and Al left for Xing. Once I returned, a proposed to Winry the same night. Since then me and her have been living together and planning for the wedding. Problem is, Al can't decide on a house in central. So in the meantime, he's staying with us. After Pinako died, Winry inherited the house. So in that point of view, I'm a guest too. Only difference is Al is moving to central soon and I'm staying.

Sure I'm a bit upset Al is going to school in central and won't be here in Resembool, but it's also good for him. Me, having always been a traveler, finally decided to settle down. I went upstairs to change into some comfortable clothes. My new job is working around the village fixing things...manually. My alchemy will never return, but every time I look at Al, I remember how much it was worth it.

Another thing I do is investigate some small rumors. Sometimes I get paid if I solve it, other times I don't. It's really more of a hobby.

"Ed, dinner's ready!" I heard Winry call out.

"Coming!" I shouted in reply. Once in the kitchen, the heavy aroma of baked potatoes and bread nearly made my mouth water. Best part of all, there was a freshly baked apple pie for desert.

"Thanks for the help, Al. Not sure I could of gotten it all done without you." Al rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"It's the least I can do, honest. I can't just hang around and do nothing. Ed's out working and you do house chores so I should be helping in any way I can." Me and Winry both frowned. He needed to stop acting like it was so much trouble to let my own brother live in my house.

"Al, whatever you think, stop thinking it. While I do appreciate the help, you don't have to do it out of guilt." Winry said. I nodded in agreement. The way she took the words right out of my mouth made my heart skip a beat. Al smiled sincerely and nodded.

"Well let's dig in!" I exclaimed, taking a big bite out of the potato.

After he took a big sip of his milk, Al spoke up.

"Hey brother, you know how you investigate things, right?" He asked. I nodded, not wanting to talk with my mouth full.

"Well there's a rumor going on. You know that old broken gray house we used to dislike as kids?" He asked. It took me a second to remember.

"Oh yeah. You didn't like how creepy it looked, and Winry would cry-" I didn't get to finish before a wrench hit me on the side of my head, causing me to fall out of my chair.

Holding onto the new bruise, I sat back in my chair.

"Seriously? I was being honest! Also, who on earth has their tools with them on the dinner table!?" I asked, slightly irritated.

"Apparently me!" She snapped back. Al was just watching the scene unfold. It's amazing how me and Winry somehow can get along.

"Anyways," Al spoke up, "Someone went in there and performed a ritual. Since then people have been saying strange things have been going on." He took another sip of his milk before continuing.

"I thought it could be some sort of alchemical reaction, thinking the guy did a transmutation. Earlier today I went there, and, well, I found this." Al reached into his bag and pulled out a notebook.

"It sort of concerns me, so I thought I'd show it to you." He said, sliding it over to me. After washing my hands so I wouldn't dirty the pages, I opened it up to read whatever Al was so concerned about.

_The other side is not to be messed with. I fear I may have put this entire town in danger because of my actions. I just wanted to understand them, to communicate with them. I was so careless, only thinking of myself. What will happen to me? They say that once I fall asleep they'll take me away. I don't want to go, I'm terrified of falling asleep. Everyone thinks I'm insane, nobody will believe me. Even the military, who sent me out to do this in the first place, is ignoring me! _

_Those heartless bastards. I never got to get married or have kids, and it's already over. To whoever reads this, please don't actually try what I did. If you enter the house, don't enter the room on the far right. If you do, don't sit in the chairs nor look directly in the mirrors. You don't have to set up anything like I did and you don't have to wait until a certain time. You see, I couldn't close it back. It's permanently like that, and there's nothing I can do about it. If you know what's good for you, you won't mess with the dark gate._

"Al, this is stupid. Just some wacko guy thinking ghost or something exist." I stated, taking a bite out of my bread. Al looked a bit let down.

"I don't know, brother. He mentioned the gate and also the military. Who knows what they have up their sleeves." I laughed, placing a hand on Als shoulder.

"Mustang is the Fuhrer, I doubt he would ask someone to do some stupid ritual. He's an _alchemist_, not a wizard." Al crossed his arms.

"It could of gone on behind his back! After everything we've been through. Me being nothing but a soul, homunculi,truth, nothing is impossible. " I could tell by where this was going that he wasn't going to just drop it.

"If it will make you feel better, later you and me can go investigate the house." Al looked uneasily out the window.

"B-but it's getting dark out." I rolled my eyes at this.

"Come on guys, you should just forget about it. It's not important." Winry reasoned. Al looked at me the way he always looks at me when he wants something. Every time I see that look I automatically give in to his every command.

"Fine Al, but I'm going there tonight. Get over the fact that it will be dark." He nodded happily.

"Thanks brother! You're the best!" He shouted, leaping from his chair and onto me. We both fell back with a thud, the chair nearly breaking. Winry laughed at us.

"If you guys don't mind, could you please help me out with cleaning before you go?"

"Of course!" Me and Al said at the same time. While Al went to take the trash out, Winry stopped cleaning and looked me in the eyes.

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Ed?" I sighed.

"Al thinks something weird is going on. He has never been wrong before, so I should at least trust him."

"Just be careful, okay?" She asked.

"Trust me, nothing will happen at all. Al and I will probably walk home disappointed." I assured her, hugging her tightly.

"Am I interrupting something?" A voice from behind said. I jumped and let go of her and turned to face Al who looked very embarrassed.

"N-no! We were just-" I couldn't stop myself from blushing. Winry laughed and handed me a plate.

"Lets get back to work." Once we all finished, Al immediately ran to the closet and came back with both of our own coats. I slid it on while pushing my feet into my boots. We waved goodbye and started heading across the field towards the house. Winry already had a flashing light prepared for us when it got really dark. As we got closer and closer to the house, I noticed Al slow down.

"Something wrong Al?" I asked.

"I don't know. I just have this terrible feeling. Maybe we should go back." He said, grabbing a hold of my arm and clinging onto me for dear life.

"Don't be such a baby, Al. Don't forget that this was your idea in the first place." He released my arm and nodded. Before we knew it we were at the front of the house. I grabbed the doorknob and slowly pushed it open. At that moment, we both knew, there was no turning back now.

**Please leave a review and let me know if I should continue or not. Thanks for taking the time to read this! :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you to die hard 4 anime and H for leaving a review! It's very much appreciated! **

**Disclaimer: nope. **

As the door creaked open, a light breeze emerged from inside the house. I put it off as an open window, and ignored it. Al however, seemed extremely on the edge.

"Al, it's just a little wind. There's nothing wrong with this house." I assured him. I don't think I helped much, but I could try. And if there was something going on in here, I would protect him with my life. I pulled out our lanterns and lit them. Now that he could see the room, it calmed Al down.

The place was nothing special. Rotting furniture was scattered around either tipped over or just plain broken. The once yellow wallpaper was peeling, and the floorboards had weeds coming through them. There was no trace of transmutations or anything that could lead to the use of alchemy. Al started wandering down the hallway with a serious look on his face. Normally I would follow after him, but I decided to stay and make absolute certain nothing was wrong. I heard footsteps behind me and jumped a bit.

"Who's the scared one now?" Al asked, laughing at me. I sighed. 'This is a total waste of time'. I thought to myself.

"Brother, I already examined this room inside and out. I found the notebook hidden under that floorboard." He told me, pointing to a lifted up floorboard. "I left right after finding it, so we need to focus on the other rooms." I nodded in agreement and headed towards one of the left rooms, while Al wandered upstairs into a middle room.

The room was harmless. It looked like it had once belonged to a young girl. The bed was still sturdy, and no tears or loose strings were found anywhere on the quilt. To the side was a pearl white dresser, which looked brand new. There were a few toys scattered around, but none of the toys looked old. I opened the closet only to find dresses that looked perfectly fine. This entire room seemed brand new, as if someone was still living here. It didn't match the rest of the house at all.

I heard a soft noise behind me. When I spun around I didn't see anyone or anything. I mentally slapped myself for acting stupid. As I was exiting, a soft thud brought my attention to a bookshelf. 'How did I not notice that?" I asked myself. I looked downwards to the source of the sound. A small book was opened to a certain page. I picked it up, making sure it stayed on that page as I began reading.

_As the princess stumbled into the house, she was convinced nothing was wrong. The small palace was said to have a witch living in there. It always looked abandoned, so the princess assumed the witch had left. All throughout exploring, she felt someone watching her, it was very unsettling. She should have not doubted the place. The witch still lurked there, and always will._

I couldn't help but notice how the story was somewhat similar to this situation. I turned the page to see what else was in it.

_What the princess didn't know was that the witch cast some unholy magic, which resulted in the witches death. The princess was a lady of fact, not stories. She thought it was safe, she thought it wasn't possible, but she could think a lot of things. That wouldn't change the outcome. Little did the naive princess know that it was her own family that ordered the witch to do something so unholy in the first place. _

That started to scare me. Al said that the military forced a man to perform a ritual. It was similar to how the witch was ordered by the royal family to do so too. It was too much of a coincidence. I turned the page only to find it was blank. I sighed in frustration. I took my eyes off the page for a second, and when I looked back, the most shocking thing happened. Words, words that weren't there a minute ago appeared! 'How is this possible!? there's no way I could of overlooked this!' I took in a deep breath before continuing to read, nervous to find what was written.

_Sorry, you didn't give me time to finish writing the story before you picked up the book. I would finish it now, but I'm far more curious to see your reaction to the end result. Are you watching your little brother? I wouldn't leave him alone if I were you. Oh well, too late now. _

I had never been so terrified in my life. This wasn't scientifically possible! And Al, where's Al!? I threw the book on the ground, grabbed the lantern, and immediately rushed towards the stairs. I barely got halfway before hearing a loud scream,one full of terror and pain. My heart stopped for a moment until I regained my senses.

"ALPHONSE!" I shouted as I ran as fast as I could up the stairs. I ran too fast that I tripped and began sliding back down. "BROTHER!" Als frantic voice could be heard as he was exiting the room. He looked down at me and ran towards me. "BROTHER! Are you alright? What happened? Why did you scream?" He asked. My eyes widened in shock. If Al wasn't the one who screamed...then...

"Okay that's it we're getting out of this house right now!" I shouted, grabbing his arm and forcefully dragging him towards the door. For an odd reason, he seemed unwilling to leave. "What is it Al?" I asked, noticing how he looked almost desperate to stay.

**Als pov**

I don't know why I wanted to stay. My heart was telling me, screaming at me to go home and never leave my brothers side. Yet something about the room to the far right, the forbidden one, was so tempting. As much as my heart didn't want me going into that room, my body and my brain wouldn't listen. I felt a strong need to go there, as if it was calling me. It wasn't vile, it wasn't cruel, it was calming and safe. I knew that wasn't the case, but whatever it was had me believing that it was. I longed to be embraced with the safety of that room. I wanted it, no, I _needed_ it. For the first time ever, I lied to Ed.

"It's okay brother, it was me who screamed. I did it to prank you." I couldn't believe the words that came out of my mouth. That wasn't true at all. How, how could I be so at peace with lying to my brother? After all we've been through, I lie to him? It felt like I wasn't in control of myself anymore. My life, my universe now seemed to revolve around that room. He looked at me with the most perplexed expression I had ever seen.

"Al, why would you do that? That's not something you would do. A minute ago you asked if I was the one who screamed. Now that I think about it, the scream didn't even sound anything like you." I really hated how smart he was at times. My entire soul went into full defense. I felt a strong need to defend this house and get away from Ed. I just had to get into that room!

"Oh, lighten up Ed! It was just a small practical joke!" I tried to convince him, smiling. He still wasn't buying it."What about the book? Are you trying to tell me you did that too?" I looked at him confused."What book?" I honestly had no idea what he was talking about."I was reading a book and then, words started appearing by themselves." I laughed out loud. "Oh come on! You sure have one big imagination there!" He crossed his arms.

"Al, I swear I didn't imagine it. We have to leave, now." I stopped laughing, and gave him a cold look. I could tell he was shocked by how I looked at him. He didn't say anything, just grabbed onto my arm and continued dragging me. I couldn't leave, everywhere else just felt so dangerous. Only in that room would I ever feel complete! I wasn't about to let anyone take that away from me! "ED LET GO OF ME!" I shouted angrily, I released my arm and did something that shocked the both of us.

_ ...I hit him_

His eyes widened impossibly wide as he stared at me. We were both speechless. Instead of apologizing, I dropped my lantern and ran as fast as I could up the stairs. I opened the forbidden rooms door and shut it behind me. Fortunately for me, there was a lock. I could hear my brothers footsteps and knew I had to be quick. Through the corner of my eye I saw a lit candle. I felt like it had been there for me. I noticed two large mirrors and three chairs. One was pushed towards the front, two pushed back and to the side. I remembered what the man had said and didn't look directly at the mirrors or the candle.

It was difficult to pick up the candle without looking at it, but I managed. I had to pick one of the three chairs. I felt like it was a test, like one chair was for the king and the others for the fools. The obvious choice would be the front middle one, but because it was obvious I didn't do that. I sat on the right side chair and placed the candle in front of me. There was a sudden wind from behind, which almost startled me. I felt I had to protect the candles light from the wind using my body as a shield. I held the candle towards my chest and refrained from moving. I could barely hear Eds frantic voice, screaming at me to open the door. It wouldn't be long until he broke in with his automail leg, so I had to act fast.

My mind wasn't my own anymore. I wanted to run out of the house immediately, but just couldn't. His bangs and kicks were growing stronger and more desperate. Even though it must have been extremely loud, it was drowned out. Before long, all I could hear was _their_ voices. _Their_ calm soothing voices were trance like. I could understand why that man who left the notebook wanted to know them. Unlike me, he was a fool. Last minute he grew frightened and ran away. I wasn't going to do that. I would welcome them with open arms and accept them. I could tell they accepted me too. Not as their fool, but as their king.

**Long chapter o.o It actually was going to be even longer because once I start writing it's hard for me to stop. Please leave a review if you enjoyed! Reviews help motivate me like you wouldn't believe. Thanks again, see you at the next chapter! **


	3. Chapter 3

**Happy 4th of July (readers in America)! As a gift from me to you on this holiday, here is a new chapter! Thank you to those who left a review last time!**

**Disclaimer: Nobody writing on this site actually owns the show. (I think...) **

'Geez, they sure are taking their sweet time.' Winry thought as she kept flashing the light in hopes of seeing them approach the front porch soon. Den sat there next to her waiting to see any sign of the two brothers. 'It's already midnight, what is going on? I hope they're not in trouble.' Winry hoped. She mentally slapped herself for thinking such things. 'No! They're alright, I know they are. Please Ed, come home soon.'

**Ed's pov**

"ALPHONSE OPEN THE DOOR! PLEASE!" I screamed kicking and hitting the door like it was my number one enemy. For some reason, no matter what, it wouldn't budge. It felt as if something strong was leaning against it. "DAMMIT HOW MANY TIMES WILL I FAIL BEING YOUR OLDER BROTHER!" I couldn't stop the tears that fell. I was starting to loose all hope when the door swung open. "B-brother?" Al asked, worried. I looked up to see Al wearing a shocked expression. It wasn't long until Al reached down and hugged me. "Brother! What happened? Where are we? Why are you crying?" I quickly wiped my face after being reminded of my poor state.

"You don't remember, Al?" Al shook his head. "Nothing. Why are we outside _the_ room?" I didn't know if I should answer him or not. Al grabbed my lantern and lifted it up. He quickly noticed the huge bruise on my cheek. "BROTHER! You're hurt!" He noticed. "It's fine Al, I got it from tripping down the stairs." I lied. There was no way I could tell him that he was the one responsible for my new bruise. It would kill him. "You're not fine! It's so big! It almost looks like you were directly punched in the face!" I couldn't hear half of his sentence. My mind was focusing on a different voice.

_I'll let you escape, for now._

"Al, lets leave this house. Now!" "What? Okay, lets g-" I didn't let him finish his sentence before picking him up and throwing him over my back. Maybe that way he couldn't leave. "What the, Hey! Brother put me down I can walk!" Al struggled against my grip, but I was not letting go this time. I flew down the stairs, nearly breaking a step due to my automail leg and Als extra weight, but I quickly went to the next step just in time. "Let go of me I don't need you to carry me!" I didn't listen to him. Even as we exited the house I didn't let go. I was not gonna let that happen again!

"Put me down! Why are you running so fast?" He had a point. I was panting heavily, but I wasn't stopping. I just wanted to be back in the safety of my house. Once I started hearing _that_ voice again I went even faster. It wasn't really there, but because I was tired and scared I imagined it. I let out a scream as I ran even faster. "Ed! Calm down!" I had to run faster. If I didn't Al would get away from me again. They would take him and do who knows what to him! I wasn't stopping. I wasn't stopping!

"EDWARD PUT ME DOWN!" The use of my full name caught my attention as I halted to a stop. I put Al down and he fell to the ground, tired too because of how I held him. Only after I dropped him did I feel how much pain I was in from all that running. I fell to the ground also, panting heavily for air. "Brother, what on earth happened back there?" I was officially paranoid. I ran a marathon to get away from a house. It may seem crazy but to me it wasn't. I know what I saw and heard. I just couldn't tell Al anything.

"Brother please! Tell me what happened!" I shook my head no. Al crossed his arms and glared at me. "Well whatever it is it has you extremely worked up." "I'm...fine...Al. L-lets go home." I struggled to say while still panting and taking in deep breaths. I looked up to see the flashing light and our house not too far away. I was relieved, but I knew we weren't free yet. I grabbed Als hand and ran once more. Al seemed annoyed at how I wouldn't answer him. To me, the less he knew, the better. One thing for sure is that he was right all along. Something is wrong with that house.

I swung open the door and quickly shoved Al inside before closing it and locking it. Winry ran down the stairs only to find me panting on the floor and Al staring at me. "What happened!?" She asked running towards us. "Ask Ed I have no clue." The relief I felt being inside my home for a few seconds helped me regain my sanity. "Nothing happened." A wrench got thrown at me the second those words left my mouth.

"Nothing my wrench! Something happened and you are going to tell me right now!" Just what I needed. More bruises. It must of not been my day if both Al and my future wife were hitting me. "Well maybe if you stopped throwing wrenches at me I would!" "Don't give me that! You denied telling me anything long before I hit you!" "A mere second is all the time you'll give me before you pull out your wrench?" Winry opened her mouth to say more when Als laughing stopped her.

"What's so funny!?" Me and her asked at the same time. "Oh nothing, just funny to see you guys act like a married couple." Me and Winry blushed and we both stuttered for words which only made Al laugh even more. "Also, what kind of freak burst open the door like that? You scared me half to death!" Winry shouted, which caused me to laugh with Al. Soon Winry joined in laughing with us. It was funny to me how we could go through so much and still laugh afterwards.

"Come on, lets go get you guys something to drink." Me and Al nodded, walking towards the kitchen behind Winry. She had prepared for us some hot tea that I drank instantly. After a bit of chatting on how the house had been a total disappointment, Al went up to bed. "Ed, what really did happen?" I sighed. Of course she knew that wasn't all we had to say about the house.

"I really don't know. We went into the house and I went into a room that looked brand new. When I was leaving a book fell down and I picked it up and began reading it. The story was simular to our situation. After that it literally told me to go keep an eye on Al. I heard a scream but it wasn't Al, and it wasn't me either. I tried to force him out of the house but he hit me." I explained, pointing to the bruise.

"Al hit you!? I thought I made that bruise with my wrench!" I shook my head. "He ran away from me and into the far right room. I have no idea what happened in there but once Al came out he didn't remember anything and that's that." Winry looked at me as if I sprung a second head. "I know it is incredibly far-fetched and sounds like something you would read in a book but I'm telling you it all happened!" "I believe you." She quietly said. "So you should- wait, you believe me?" I was not expecting to hear that, considering I barely believed myself. "Ed, I have known you my entire life. You may hide stuff from me but you would never lie about things either. If you finally trust me enough to let me know what's going on then the least I can do is trust you back." I felt my face reddening again. Those words meant more to me than she would ever know.

The next morning Al was still sleeping so I ended up helping Winry cook. It was kind of fun actually, I was always the one cleaning up so being able to help this time was new. "I get it! You combine the necessary ingredients and if you have the right amount creates what you need! It is kind of like how-" "Ed, if you say cooking is similar to alchemy one more time, I'm going to kick you out of the kitchen." I shut my mouth and finished helping silently. Last thing anyone wants is an angry fiance. Once we were all done Winry told me to go wake up Al. I opened the door, went over to the windows and pushed the curtains away. If there is one thing Al can't sleep through it's bright light.

"Wake up Al! Me and Winry worked hard on breakfast. Yes, i helped cook. You don't want to miss out on that!" I shouted while trying to shake him awake. Once I saw that wasn't going to work, I pulled off the covers and gasped. Al was extremely sweaty and looked sicker than when he first got his body back. "Al! What's wrong!" I asked, leaning down in front of his face. His eyes were slightly closed but I could tell he was looking at me. "I'm fine brother. Just a little si-" His sentence got cut off by his own coughing.

"I'll be right back. I'm going to get Winry to see if she has any medicine that can help you." Al only nodded as I left. I was freaking out inside. What if he is extremely sick? What if the house did this? What if he inherited moms illness! The worse thoughts of all came flooding through my mind at full force. And they didn't stop until Winry examined him. "Oh, it's just a cold." I let out a heavy sigh of relief. Sometimes I could really be overly worried. "Some of our neighbors have been getting sick lately and I think it is because of the changing of seasons. People have gotten better after two to three days so it's nothing severe. I have some medicine downstairs that I've been saving unless one of us catches it." It seemed like she was always one step ahead of me.

After she gave Al the medicine I realized how late it was getting. I had to be at someones house soon for work. "Ed, go on to work I'll look after Al." "Are you sure? It's not anything important if you need me here I can help." She already grabbed my coat and handed it to me. "We're perfectly fine on our own. Don't forget I come from a line of great doctors so taking care of Al is perfectly easy." "If you're sure." I slid on my coat and headed out the door. I had a nagging feeling that I should stay and keep a close eye on Al, but that was only the fear talking. I continued walking to the place without ever looking back. I left on that day. Something I would always regret later on.

**cliffhanger. :p What will happen next? Please leave a review if you like what you read. See you next time! **


	4. Chapter 4

**It's here**

**It's now  
**

**It's the chapter you have all been waiting for.  
**

**But first review time! *trollface*  
**

**die-hard-4-anime: I'm glad you like it. Wait no longer the new chapter is here!**

**Anonymous: Thank you for saying that. I'm sure in the future one of my stories will be popular if I work hard enough.**

**I'm Nobodys Girlfriend: I tried using your** advice,** but it didn't work out very well. :l So instead I focused on making it more specific on who is talking.**

**Now onto the story!  
**

**Disclaimer: I'm still not Japanese  
**

After a short walk I reached the address. Before I had a chance to knock, a middle aged lady answered the door. "Oh, hello. You must be Edward Elric." She smiled at me. I nodded and said hello back. "Well don't just stand there outside. Please, come in." She opened the door wider and stepped aside. I thanked her and entered the house. It seemed to be very well kept. The place was very clean and had nice decorations and furniture. "You have a very nice home." I said politely. "Why thank you. I do my best to take care of it. If you follow me upstairs I will show you the problem. Oh, and my husband is in his study so be quiet." She led the way upstairs into a room. On the wall right next to the door was a long crack.

"I don't know how it got this way. Do you think you can fix it?" She asked. I examined the crack and new it wouldn't be a big deal. I turned to her and said, "Yeah of course I can fix this! It probably just happened after the foundation shifted. Do you have anything I could use to fill in the crack?" I asked. "Yes, I do. I'll be right back." The lady turned and left me alone in the room. Once she came back with the necessary supplies I began working right away. I finished fixing it and sighed in content. 'That took me barely any time at all. Now I can go home and check on Al.' I thought to myself. I was going to find the lady when I heard her arguing with someone in the room next to mine.

'That must be her husband. I hope me and Winry don't end up fighting like that.' It wasn't until their shouts got louder that I could hear what they were saying. I didn't want to eavesdrop so I was going to leave but something the lady said stopped me. "I'M TIRED OF THIS! You are my husband, you should be the one helping me without me having to hire help! All you do these days is fuss over that house! You need to let it go and get your life back!" She shouted angrily. My eyes widened. 'She couldn't mean _the house_, could she? What does her husband know about it?' Completely eavesdropping now, I leaned my ear against the wall. This time I could hear a mans voice.

"My best friend died unexplainably after he went there and you expect me to let it go?" Now I was extremely interested. The lady started shouting again. "Well take it up with the military who sent him there, not risk your life! If he died then I want you far away from that place! Don't you see I-" Her sentence was cut off by her sobbing. "Don't you see I can't loose you?" She finished. I felt my own heart break. Just imagining Winry saying that to me would be enough to kill me.

"I'm sorry. I am going to solve this. I bought a train ticket, I am going to central and I am going to demand for answers." I backed away from the wall when I heard the mans footsteps. The footsteps sounded like they were heading for the front door. Sure enough, I heard the door open and close. After a few seconds the lady came in.

"Oh, you fixed it. Well let me get your pay." I stopped her before she could pull anything out of her purse. "That's alright. I just came here to help out I don't need to be paid." I told her. 'Besides, learning that information was payment enough.' My evil mind thought. "Well I must give you something! How about some tea?" She asked. I wasn't so sure. That feeling to get home kept returning. 'I should really go home and check on Al. Then again she is offering and I don't want to be rude.' I gave in and decided to stay for tea. I was positive Winry could take care of Al while I tried to learn more about their connection to the house.

**Winrys Pov **

"Oh my god Al, you're burning up!" I panicked. All I did was feel his forehead and it felt the same to burning myself while cooking! I had to think fast. I ran to the bathroom, got a few rags and a big bowl of cold water. 'Come on think! What would mom and dad do during a time like this?' I kept scanning my brain for anything I was forgetting.

'I have cold water, rags, soup is on the way, he is in a comfortable bed and I already gave him the medicine! He should be getting better but everything I do is making it worse! Calm down Winry, you can do this. Both Ed and Al are counting on you! Maybe the medicine is just taking longer to kick in! Yeah, I'm sure that's it. Everything will be okay!' I ran out of the bathroom and back to where Al was laying.

"I'm sorry Winry. I don't mean to put you through-" He couldn't finish before coughing again. Gosh what was I going to do? "Don't talk Al, that will only make it worse!" I instructed him. I quickly grabbed a rag and dumped it in the water. Not caring to drain some of the water off of it I put the entire soaking rag on his forehead. It didn't help at all. Even through the rag he was still burning up! 'ohgodohgodohgodohgod' Was all I was thinking.

"Al, this isn't working! You're burning up badly!" Why was I failing? I put an extra rag on him but once again it didn't work."That's it I'm bringing you to the north and I am going to bury your head in snow!" I clearly wasn't thinking when I said that."What? That doesn't make-" It was horrible. He couldn't finish one sentence without coughing!

I suddenly remembered about the soup I left on the stove."Oh no I forgot about the soup! Hang on Al!" I ran so fast down the stairs I nearly tripped. I managed to save the soup and feed it to Al. It didn't do much though, he still looked terrible. I had to work harder, as hard as I could! I was not about to loose another person I care about!

**Ed's pov **

The lady knew how to make amazing tea. I would never tell Winry but this ladies tea was even better. "Hey, I just realized I never got your name." I told her. "Oh, silly me. My name is Ellie Walter." She told me. It was a very pretty name. "So, Mrs. Walter, I hope you don't mind but I kind of over heard you and your husband arguing." I didn't want to tell her that, but I needed to see what she knew.

"Oh, that's alright. I would be surprised if you didn't hear us arguing. I apologize for that. You see my husband has been awfully concerned lately and I don't know how to help him." She told me. "About the gray house across the field?" I asked. She looked shocked.

"You know about that too?" She asked me. I nodded. "Me and my brother went there. He seemed convinced that something was wrong, and he was right." She seemed interested in what I had to say so I continued. "I don't know how to explain it, no, I can't explain it. There is something going on in that house that I can't comprehend. All I can tell you is something evil is there and it nearly got my brother."

Mrs. Walter looked sad. "My husband used to work for the military before we moved here. A man we knew well got hired to look out here about a house. He didn't tell us much details others than he had to perform something. The last time we saw Nicholas was when he came to us panicking. He told us to stay far away from that place."

"Who is Nicholas?" I asked. Mrs. Walter took another sip of her tea before answering me. "He was Peters, my husbands, best friend. A week after he came to us people found his body floating in the lake. Ever since then my husband has been obsessed with figuring out who or what killed him." I gulped. All of this was getting out of hand.

Since she told me so much I decided to tell her everything that happened to me and Al. She looked horrified after I finished telling her. "That's awful! Go home and look after your brother!" I got up and walked to the door. She followed and opened it for me. "Be safe, and god bless you." Was the last thing she said to me before closing the door. 'God bless us, huh? We're way too far down to be blessed.'

I speed walked back to our house. I opened the door and hung up my coat. "Winry I'm home! How is Al?" I asked. I heard no reply. Sighing I climbed up the stairs. I tried to open the door to the guest room where Al was staying, but it was locked. I knocked on it. "Winry! Are you in there?" Still no reply. I searched the entire house but there was no sign of either of them."I didn't want to do this but you left me no choice! I'm breaking the door down!" I was about to kick it open when a wrench hit me.

"Ed! What are you doing? I go out to get more medicine and the second I get back you are bothering Al!" She yelled at me. "I thought you were in there with him! And why did you lock the door to his room?" I asked her. "What? I didn't lock the door. Let me see." I stepped aside and allowed her to mess with the door. She wiggled and turned the doorknob but it was locked.

"Al! Why did you lock the door? Let us in!" She shouted banging on the door. "If you step back I can knock it down." I suggested. She glared at me which meant no. We heard a 'click' and the door flew open. There was Al looking as healthy as ever. "Why hello dear brother and Winry." He smiled at us. Me and Winry didn't know how to respond. Al was acting extremely weird.

"Al, are you okay?" I asked. Something about him seemed off. "Oh yeah, I'm good. Your hot fiancee took great care of me." I never wanted to slap Al until now. What happened? "Al, what happened to you?" Winry asked, once again beating me to it. He smirked a devilish smirk. "Nothing has happened to me. That is, nothing that shouldn't happen to me." He replied. I couldn't stop myself. I grabbed Al and yanked him up from his shirt collar. "Ed don't!" Winry shouted.

"What the hell happened to you? Snap out of it!" I shook him. He grabbed my arms and got out of my grasp easily. "No you all need to snap out of it! Being in a state of mind that is so belittled. Not being fully awaken to what we could feel, what we could experience! I have opened up, now I am in an even more aware state of mind!" He shouted before laughing like a maniac. I grabbed Winry and pushed her behind me.

"Ed, this is probably just his fever talking." Winry whispered to me. Somehow Al heard her. "I told you that you took care of me. All I was doing was getting used to my new aware state. Thanks to you I was able to pull it off without dying in the process! And boy do I feel great! I want everyone to be like this! If you don't believe me check my temperature. I can guarantee you I no longer have a fever." I hesitantly reached out and felt his forehead.

"No fever Winry, he has just gone completely insane." Al gave me such a hateful look. "No you are the ones insane! I want you to open up your mind and experience what I am experiencing! Do it with me! We must go back to the house, that's where the gateway is! We could-" "ENOUGH!" I shouted before he could continue with his nonsense. He dropped to his knees and began chuckling.

"I can hear them. All of their voices talking to me. There is not a second that goes by that I don't cherish hearing them. DON'T YOU WANT THEM TOO?" He asked us. "I don't!" I yelled back. Al laughed and then stopped as he stood up. "You know, if you won't do it willingly, I can do it for you." He clapped his hands and transmuted a knife. "After all, they say that death is the best way to be in a full spiritual state of mind!"

**I really love cliffhangers don't I? Anyways update times from now on are going to be every Thursday and Sunday or sooner. However through July 22-26 I'll be at camp so I can't update then sorry. 3: Please leave a review if you liked it! **


	5. Chapter 5

**It's Thursday and that means update time! Thank you to everyone who left a review last time!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist **

I knew I should of stayed home. Al had gone completely insane and there was no stopping him. A knife was clutched in his right hand while his left was balled into a fist. He laughed loudly before he lunged at us. I grabbed Winry, threw her out of the room, and locked the door. "What? No Ed let me in!" She shouted, banging on the door. "You don't need to get dragged into this Winry! This isn't the Al we know!" I shouted back, constantly struggling to dodge Als blows. He wasn't going at me full force, I could tell. I didn't want to hurt Al while this _thing_ was inside of him, so I focused on defense.

"What's the matter Ed? Don't want to hurt me? You'll die if you're too soft!" He yelled at me. I didn't see one of his attacks coming. He managed to dig the knife into my shoulder. I gasped in pain and held onto my shoulder to try to stop the bleeding. He had a point, I would die that way. "You're injured, now will you attack me?" Al asked. His voice was filled with such evil. Every word he said stung with vile. Why did we have to go through this? Didn't we already go through enough? I was getting sick of the world tossing us around. Al seemed unamused by me not answering or fighting.

"You're no fun, _brother." _That last word was filled with hatred rather than love. How dare this monster even attempt to act like Al! "You can be extremely boring sometimes. I'll just go have fun with Ms. Hottie outside the door. I know many fun ways I can tear her apart." He smirked. "If you dare hurt her so help me I'll-" I didn't get the chance to finish before he cut me off.

"Or what? You'll kill me? You already did once, then brought me back to live in that suit of armor for years. Now that you have finally made things right, you want to ruin it?" He asked. "That doesn't stop me from stopping you!" I ran towards him and punched him in the face. I grabbed the knife and took it out of his hands. Once he was weapon free I held his arms apart so he couldn't transmute.

"Ha! How do you like that?" I asked, taking pride in my accomplishment. "Heh, fool." He whispered. To my surprise somehow he transmuted another knife out of thin air! He stabbed me in the stomach and I fell back limp. This was it. I was going to die here in this room by the hands of my own brother.

"Oh, did I forget to mention something? What did I forget? Oh yeah, that having this new awakened state allows me to bypass any laws of exchange. That might of been important to tell you, oh well." He threw the knife stained by my own blood down next to me. He walked towards the door, looking at me through the corner of his eye to see my reaction.

I wanted to scream telling Winry to run away but it came out as a coughing fit. Right as he was about to unlock the door he fell to the ground grabbing his head. "Damn brat! Well it was nice meeting you. Don't worry I'll be back soon to finish you both off." I tried to keep my eyes open to see what would happen but darkness took over me.

**Als pov**

When I woke up I was on the floor instead of on the bed. I don't remember how I got there and the last thing I remembered was Winry helping me get better. It took me a minute before I could hear anything. Once I could hear again I could hear Winry banging on the door sobbing uncontrollably.

"Ed? Ed! Please answer me!" I was so confused, I didn't know why she was worried about brother. I tried to open the door but saw it was locked.. Weird, I didn't remember it being locked last time. I unlocked it and swung it open. Winry was on her knees crying. She looked up at me then took a step back.

"W-Winry? What's going on?" I asked her. She didn't answer. She was shaking and backing away from me. All of the sudden she ran downstairs and into the kitchen. "Winry? Wait!" I called after her. I ran downstairs and into the kitchen. She pulled out a big knife and waved it in front of her. "Stay back! Get away from me!" She screamed, pointing the knife at me. I was so taken back by this I didn't know how to respond.

"What? Winry, it's me! Please put the knife down and think reasonably!" I hadn't seen her this ready to kill since she found out Scar killed her parents. "If you hurt Ed I am not going to let you get away with it!" She shouted. I didn't know what to do. Why would I hurt Ed? I would never in my life hurt brother!

"I would never hurt Ed! Winry please, calm down." I took a few slow steps to her. I had to get that knife away from her before she hurt me or herself. She began waving it around again. "I SAID STAY BACK!" She shrieked. She grabbed another knife and had them both pointed at me. "Winry, it's ok. I just want to get the knifes away from you. Can you let me do that?" She started crying again.

"Why wouldn't Ed answer? WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM!?" I think maybe the stress of having to take care of me got to her. She did mention something about burying my head in snow. She must not be thinking clearly. "Winry, maybe you should sit down and rest. Do you want some tea? I can make you so-" She threw one of the knifes at me and I barely dodged it. The end result was it only cut my shirt and arm slightly.

An idea formed in my mind, but I had to be extremely careful. One bad move and I would get badly hurt. There were four knifes left. If I could get her to throw them at me then I could approach her without getting killed. I took one step forward and she threw the second knife at me. I ducked before it could stab me in the head. This plan was insane, but it was all I could think of.

"Winry, I'm not gonna hurt you I promise." I tried to assure her. She picked up the third knife and threw it towards my leg. I lifted it up just in time. 'I can do this. Just two more.' I told myself. I thought about using alchemy to defend myself, but that would only scare her more so I scratched that idea. Another step, another knife. Only one left. I hoped that I could survive this one.

"Winry, it will all be ok." I said, trying to provoke her to throw the knife at me. For some reason comfort made her angry. Bingo, the last knife was thrown heading towards my neck. I side stepped out of the way and it joined the others in a pile behind me. Winry tried to feel for anything behind her but she was out of objects. I ran towards her. What I didn't calculate was her wrench. She threw it at me directly on my forehead.

It didn't hurt as bad as a knife would, but it sure was painful. 'Brother truly is a strong person to deal with that so many times.' I thought. A few screwdrivers and smaller wrenches later and she was officially out of weapons.

"Please, don't kill me." She whispered before giving up and sinking to the floor. I walked over and hugged her tightly. "It's okay Winry, everything will be okay." Once she calmed down she looked up at me. "Al?" She asked. "Yeah, it's me." She stood up and wiped her tears away. "Al! Oh thank God you're back to normal. Where's Ed?" She asked me. I shrugged. And what did she mean back to normal?

"Winry, what happened?" I asked."You don't remember?" She asked me. I shook my head. "All I remember was waking up on the floor." I answered truthfully. She gasped and ran upstairs. I followed behind her. She opened the door and screamed. I sped up my pace to see what she was screaming about. I gasped and nearly threw up at the sight. There on the floor, Ed lay unconscious slowly bleeding to death.

**Well that was fun to write. Please leave a review if you like it. See you at the next chapter! **


	6. hiatus

**Hiatus-**

**Sorry I'm putting this story on hold. Stuff happened and I don't have the strength to write at a time like this. Please try to understand that I'll continue eventually. I'm sorry. **


	7. Chapter 6

**I'm so sorry about the Hiatus, that's probably really bad for my reputation. Well I'm back and this time I'm gonna finish this story no matter what! To chapter 6! (If you can call it a chapter since it's so short)**

Upon viewing Eds almost lifeless body I stopped breathing. The scene was too horrible for my mind to concentrate. Me and Winry both stood still, afraid of moving closer to him. After a short moment I came to my senses and rushed towards him.

"Brother! Brother, can you hear me? Wake up Ed!" I shook him to try to get any response out of him. I ran downstairs and grabbed a first aid kit and towels. I ran back upstairs to see Winry a crying mess on the floor.

I began cleaning his wound immediately.

It was a somewhat good thing he was unconscious because it would really hurt if he wasn't. I temporarily stopped the bleeding and wrapped the wound. I shook Winrys shoulder and told her we had to get him to the nearest doctor, and fast. She finally stopped crying and helped me walk Ed to the small hospital. The walk there was fast and silent, the occasional soft sob coming from Winry to break the silence. Winry had one of Eds arms on her shoulder while I took the other. Even without his arm being automail Ed was still very heavy. It was moments like that which made me really glad the hospital was close by.

When we got to the small hospital they wasted no time in getting Ed into a room. I left him in the doctors hands to be taken care of. Winry sat in a waiting chair, her eyes and nose still red from all the crying. I sat down next to her quietly. There was nothing said between us until i deemed she was calmed down enough to answer the question weighing heavily on my mind.

"Winry, what exactly happened?"

**Shortest chapter ever I know. I'll write a much longer one tomorrow or Monday but for now this only serves as a way to tell people I'm continuing now. Thank you guys so much for your patience! **


	8. Chapter 7

**Alright here's a real chapter! I apologize I didn't have much time to edit this chapter. Sorry for any mistakes made in this! **

**Als pov**

"_Winry, what exactly happened?"_

She looked up from the floor and faced me. She seemed to want to tell me something, but couldn't find the words. I put my hand on her shoulder for reassurance. "Winry, it's ok. Tell me everything. Please. I need to know. Who hurt Ed?" I felt her shiver as she thought of the events that took place. "Al...you stabbed him."

_One __l__ong explanation later_

I felt extremely nauseous and nearly fell out of my chair. I couldn't believe what I was hearing! Ed hid what went on in that house from me! And then I went insane and stabbed him! Worst of all I don't even remember it! 'I hurt Ed... My brother... the only blood relative I have left.' I thought to myself. It didn't make sense. What happened in that room? What happened to me? Why was I suddenly a monster? There was no way to explain it.

Winry would never lie about something this serious. Just by looking at her I could tell she was being one hundred percent truthful. There was something seriously wrong with me, but what?

"I-I don't know what to say Winry. I have no memory of any of this. I don't know what happened to me. I can't explain it, but if I'm this monster then we need to do something. I'm not sure what, but I'll think of something." She nodded and the silence returned. Finally after an agonizing wait the doctor came out to talk to us.

"Mr. Elric has been stabilized. We have managed to close up the wound and prevent any more bleeding. There is no infection, thankfully, due to the care he received before coming here. He's a bit out of it but you can go see him if you like." We thanked the doctor a million times before walking to his room. On the way there my mind started to rethink seeing him.

_Are you really going to see your brother after YOU put him in the hospital?"_ My conscience asked me. I tried to shake the thought off to no avail. "_Do you think he wants to see you? Your brother, the only family you have left nearly died because you attacked him. How cruel of you." _I stopped dead in my tracks. My conscience was absolutely right. Wirny stopped and looked at me.

"Are you coming Al?" She asked me. I was too focused on my inner thoughts to answer her right away. When she began walking towards me I snapped out of it. "I-I don't think it's a good idea for me to see him." I told her. She seemed to understand why I thought that. "Al, it's okay. Ed knows you weren't in your right mind. Come on lets go." She told me before walking again. I hesitantly started following after her.

"_Not in your right mind? Is she so sure about that?_ _More importantly, are you sure about that?"_ Now I was just confused. What was my conscience trying to say? "_Four years of not having a body must of been so terrible. I guess there's no way you could ever forgive the one who put you in that situation." _I shook my head and stopped walking.

'No! I love brother, we were both at fault for what happened that night!' I told myself. My conscience laughed. "_Is that what you really think? Admit it, you hate him. You hate how when you told him it wasn't right he pushed you to go on and then didn't loose as much as you did. Maybe you think you love him when deep down there is a growing hatred that kept growing until you stabbed him! You want him dead. Dead and to suffer the way you did!"_

"NO! THAT'S NOT TRUE AT ALL!" I shouted loudly, getting the attention of Winry and a nearby nurse. Winry was asking me something but I couldn't hear what it was over the voice in my head. "_You wanted to forget these events so that you can keep fooling yourself. You chose to stab him, and then you chose to forget you did it. Murderer." _

The last word repeated itself in my mind. It finally drove me insane and without giving Winry an explanation, I ran out of the hospital. I ran as fast as I could. I didn't know where I was going, all I knew was that I had to find someway to make sure I would never hurt anyone again. I followed a dirt track up to the lake. Upon looking at the bridge the craziest idea popped into my mind.

"_Your existence would only cause people misery. Do them all a favor and just die. That way, no matter what, you can never hurt anyone ever again." _Before I realized what I was doing I was on the bridge and towards the edge. "_That's it. Just jump. Your body will forever be at the bottom of the lake."_

"I wouldn't be able to hurt Ed again." I said out loud.

"_Yes, never again would you stab him. It would be impossible once you're dead." _

"I wouldn't have to live with myself knowing that I hurt him."

"_Or quite possibly, killed him. At least, that's what will happen if you stay alive." _I lifted one foot off the bridge ready to jump when I felt a pair of arms grab me and pull me down. "YOU IDIOT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" A familiar voice asked me. I recognized it as Winrys. She began cry and held onto me afraid to let go. "T-there's no r-reason for t-that. We'll d-do something." She said in between sobs. Once I was back in reality I was so shocked that I nearly committed suicide. I faced her and hugged her.

"I'm sorry. So sorry. I don't know what came over me." She cried on my shoulder and for a long time we stayed like that. Once we were both calmed down and noticed a small crowd staring at us, we walked back to the hospital. When we opened the door we were greeted with frantic doctors and nurses running around. "We have to find him! Search everywhere!" The head doctor shouted. "What's going on here?" I asked. The doctor noticed us and rushed over to us.

"Mr. Elric is missing."

**Eds pov**

"Dammit! I don't have time to be sitting around in a hospital!" I told myself, clutching onto my wound. I wasn't moving as fast as I wanted to but I couldn't go any faster with my wound. I could feel anger rising in me as I approached the house.

"Just you wait Al. I'm going to find out what this place did to you!"

**Yay the story is on the move! Please leave a review if you like what you read! See you in the next chapter! **


	9. Chapter 8

**It's update time! Thanks for the reviews and favorites I got from the last chapter, it means a lot!**

**I realized I've been forgetting the disclaimers. My bad. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist. **

**Eds pov **

When I opened the door I felt something... Different. I didn't know how to figure out what that feeling was so I ignored it. The first thing I did was run upstairs to that room. When I opened the door, the appearance was not what I was expecting. There was no big mirrors, arrays, candles, nothing. It was empty, with a small window bringing light into the room. It looked completely normal.

I closed the door and searched the other rooms. It all looked old and worn down like it should be. I remembered that little girls room and went to it. I opened the door and gasped. What used to look so bright and new was now dull and old like everything else.

'No way, this is the same room, right?' I asked myself. Leaving the door open, I walked inside. There were no books on the bookshelf, no nice dressses in the closet, everything was changed.

'How did this happen?' I wondered. Dammit, it was all too complex! I searched every room at least three times before heading out. As I took a step out the door, I thought I heard something. A faint, quiet laugh. It sounded like it came from upstairs.

'I wonder...No. I just imagined that because I want something to happen. Ah, screw it I'm gonna check anyways.' I thought. I scurried up the stairs to the middle room. I walked in and of course, nothing out of the ordinary. 'I knew I was wasting my damn time! There must be some clue to why it was different that night! Wait, of course. It was at night.' I slapped my forehead and sighed. It was right under my nose.

I figured because of the wound and medicine I was given it was messing up with my track of thought. Lame excuse. Angry, I slammed the rooms door shut. I felt like someone was right behind me. I turned around ready for anything, but not what I saw.

"Hello, brother." There was Al. He was smiling and held a tray of tea. The hell? "Ok now I'm hallucinating, fantastic." I mumbled, pushing my hallucination away to get downstairs. "Brother? I'm not a hallucination. Won't you sit?" I stopped to look back at him. I blinked several times and poked him to make sure he's real.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him. He smiled and pushed the tray towards me. "Why don't we discuss it over tea?" He asked. I blinked several times. I didn't know what was going on, hell I couldn't explain anything anymore.

"Sure." I agreed. I don't know why, but I felt like if I did that I would get answers. He instantly got happier, if that was possible. "I was hoping you would say that. Come, let us find a place to sit." We walked to the far right room. Before he opened the door I stopped him.

"Hold it. There is nothing in that room. It's completely empty." I explained. He looked at me curiously. "Oh? Whatever do you mean?" He asked. He proceeded opening the door. Once he did I gasped. The room was lively and bright. There were two elegant couches and a table with cookies. "Hahaha. I'm drunk I'm going home." I was walking away when he grabbed my arm.

"You didn't even drink anything today." He told me. He had a point, but that was the only way I could explain the craziness. Obviously this wasn't my brother, I could tell that from the beginning. Just some thing taking his appearance. The real Al should be at the hospital. I was only playing along to get answers. He led me to two couches with a table in the middle. I sat down on one while he sat down on the one across from me. He poured the tea and handed me a glass.

"Thank you." I said politely, smiling. It sickened me to put up this act but I had no other choice. I pretended to take a sip. For a while we sat in silence. I decided to start asking him questions.

(to make this part easy to follow bold is Ed and regular is "Al")

"**So, uh, Al-"**

"The teas fantastic, isn't it?"

"**Yeah, it sure is, but-" **

"It was too sweet at first so I had to add other ingredients. I'm very glad you like it."

"**About this house-" **

"The cookies and biscuits took a very long time, but in the end they turned out just right."

I was growing extremely annoyed. Every time I tried to say something, he would cut me off with something about food or tea.'Wait, what if there's some sort of code? Maybe what he's saying is supposed to answer my questions. Time to put my memory into work and remember everything he tells me.' I told myself.

"**Weird stuff has been going on lately." **

"I wasn't sure if I made the cookies right but I followed the instructions and it worked out."

"**People haven't been acting right."**

"Funny, while I was cooking the first batch of cookies, I dropped them. They all fell to the floor. I knew that wouldn't be good for my brother to eat, so I threw them away."

"**They say the military is involved." **

"Then when I was cooking the second batch, they got burned before they came out of the oven. Silly me!"

"**Now we're involved." **

"However the third batch came out just right. I'm so proud!"

'Yes. I think I can connect the dots here. Good thing I didn't sneak out of the hospital for nothing.' I thought. We sat in silence, him drinking and eating and me pretending to do that. Finally the clock on the wall chimed.

"Oh, it's four o'clock already? Too bad, that's all the time I have for tea time. I'll escort you out." He said politely. I followed him to the door. He opened it and bid me goodbye. "Goodbye, I'm glad we had this tea time together. I knew you would understand, that's why I chose to have tea with you."

He closed the door before I could say anything else. I smiled, knowing I got exactly what I wanted. Once I put all this together I would be one step closer to saving Al.

**I'm really happy with how this chapter turned out and I hope you'll like it too. Please leave a review or favorite or follow if you enjoyed! ^.^ **


	10. Chapter 9

**Update day today hooray! Way too many rhymes in that one sentence. XD **

**Disclaimer: I did not write FMA. **

**Eds pov **

When I entered the hospital everything I was expecting to happen, happened. Nurses and doctors came up to question and scold me. It wasn't long until Winry walked over, angry. "You idiot! What were you thinking?" She asked, steaming with anger.

"Go ahead and get mad at me. Though you might want to know that I have a lead." I said quietly, so the bystanders couldn't hear me. "Lead on getting Al back to normal?" She whispered back. I nodded. Wait, where was Al? "Hey Winry, where is Al?" I asked, scanning the room. I found him sitting in one of the chairs far away from us.

"I don't think he wants to face you right now. He feels really guilty. I think it's best to leave him alone for now." She explained. I sighed and walked over to Al. "Did you hear a word I just said!?" She asked, shouting after me. I put my hand up in response, which made her more angry.

Al tried his best to keep his eyes on the ground, but when I got closer he shifted in his seat. I could tell he was nervous, but I didn't care. I wanted him to know I wasn't blaming him for this. He tried his best to drown out my presence with a newspaper. That all came to an end when I grabbed his paper and sent it flying across the room. I heard Winry ranting in the back round about how unsubtle I was. Al still tried to keep his eyes on the ground.

"Al, look at me." I said calmly but not too nicely. He looked up at me with such dull, dead eyes. Soon he ended up looking extremely sad, tears filling his eyes. He brought his arm up to cover his tears. "H-how can I look at you? How can I face you after what I've done?" He sobbed. It began to catch the nurses attention. I gave them a look that read 'pretend you're not watching us'. Fortunately, they picked up on the message fast.

"Al, it's okay." I said, putting a hand on his shoulder. To my surprise, he grabbed my arm and pushed it away. "No, it's not okay! I, you, I can't-" He tried to tell me something but his sobs stopped him. I was running out of ideas. If I touched him he'd push me away. If I kept talking to him like this he wouldn't believe me. I tried to think of ideas, but the doctor interrupted my thoughts.

"Excuse me Mr. Elric, we need to file a hospital report. Now that you're awake, can you tell us how you got that wound?" He asked. Al stopped crying and stood up. "I-" Before he could finish I pushed him back in the chair.

"I was being careless fixing up a house and the next thing I know a piece of sharp wood fell on me." I told him. Not the best excuse in the world. For a second I didn't think the doctor would buy it.

"Okay no problem, we've been getting a lot of patients in with similar work accidents." He explained, writing down what I told him on his clip board. 'You serious?' Is what I wanted to ask. 'Who the hell gets stabbed with a piece of sharp wood that often?' Regardless I kept to myself. Once he left, I turned to face Al. He stared at me in shock.

"Why did you do that? I should of told him the truth! I should be in jail! I should be locked up behind bars that way this can't happen again! Even if I'm executed I don't care as long as I'm dealt with!" He shouted. I grabbed him by his shirt collar. "Snap out of it! There's no way I'm gonna put my little brother in jail!" I shook him to try to get him to come to his senses.

"Enough you two!" A female voice said. It was none other than my fiancee. As a bonus she was angry. Great. I was expecting a wrench, but instead she rolled up the newspaper Al had a minute ago and slapped both of us.

"What? Run out of wrenches?" I asked. She slapped me across the face with the paper again. "Shut up! I left them at home!" She told me, very ticked off. She looked at Al who didn't even seem to mind that she hit him. He looked dazed and full of guilt.

"Go ahead Winry, hit me as much as you like. I deserve it." Al said, calmly. To my surprise she did hit him. "I'll only hit you if you keep thinking like that! It's not your fault Al, we have to figure out what's going on. We can get you back to normal, Ed has found a clue." She told him. Great. Now I'd feel really bad if there was actually no clue at all. Al looked up hopeful, then looked at me.

"Really? So fast?" He asked me. I shrugged. "Sort of. I think if I can sit down and decipher it I'll figure something out." I replied. Finally he started looking like the old Al when he looked happy. It only lasted a short moment before it turned into guilt.

"I'm sorry, brother. You're always having to work so hard all the time to get me back to normal. I thought we were done with that, but I screwed everything up. I'm sorry." He apologized. Before he could react, I pulled him close and hugged him. Not very manly, but it seemed right for the situation.

"Stop apologizing. We'll get through this, always have." I comforted. It had been a long time since I've had to tell him that. Still, I meant it. Whoever thinks they can mess with us like this has another thing coming. "This time you're gonna let me help and not keep me in the dark like last time!" Winry said. I broke the hug and stood up .

"What? No I've got it you don't have to worry." I told her. She grabbed the paper and slapped me again. "Excuse me? Since when do you make all the decisions around here? I'm helping and that's final!" She yelled.

"I said I can handle it! It's too dangerous for you!" I yelled back. She dropped the newspaper and slapped me with her bare hand. "I'm not a damsel in distress! You don't decide what I can or can't do!" What started off simple turned into a full fledged argument. I wasn't backing down, and neither was she. That was clear as day.

"Al come on, you agree with me, right?" I asked looking at him. All this time he was asleep in the chair. I smiled, and so did Winry. I grabbed his shoulder and shook him. "Al, wake up." I said softly. I shook him a little harder, but he still wasn't waking up. Panic filled my heart as I checked for his heartbeat. It was there. I shook him a few more times, even lightly hit him, but nothing was working. Something was wrong. Al would of woken up by now.

"NURSE! HELP!" I called over. She almost flew towards me. "What is it what's wrong?" She asked. "I don't know! We thought he was sleeping but he won't wake up!" I panicked. She quickly called over a doctor and put him on a stretcher to take him to a room. I tried to follow after him, but the doctor stopped me.

"You are injured yourself, please go back to your room." He told me. I shook my head violently. "No way! That's my little brother, I'm not gonna leave him!" I shouted, clenching my fist. Winry grabbed and pulled me away.

"I'll make sure he goes back to his room, don't worry." She said. The doctor nodded and walked away. "What? No! I gotta see Al! Traitor why would you help the doctor!" I said, kicking to try to get away. She pushed me into my hospital room and onto my bed.

"Al will be fine, right now you need to obey the doctor. He knows what's best for you. I swear you're always so reckless." She crossed her arms and scolded me. "It's always someone else who knows best, isn't it? Can't blame them, when I'm a fool who has made so many mistakes." I said sadly. She sat down on the bed next to me.

"It's okay Ed. What's in the past is in the past. This wasn't your fault. After all, It was Al who wanted to search the house." She comforted. After she said that I remembered something from the night we were heading there.

_"__Something wrong Al?"_

_"__I don't know. I just have this terrible feeling. Maybe we should go back."_

_"__Don't be such a baby, Al. Don't forget that this was your idea in the first place."_

I brought my fist down on the mattress, startling Winry. "What is it Ed?" She asked. I slapped my forehead. I was an idiot, always an idiot. Haven't I learned yet that when Al wants to turn back it's because something bad is gonna happen?

"I'm the biggest idiot in the universe. Even after so much time has passed, I make the same mistakes over and over. For once I thought I had actually learned. I thought I had matured, at least a little bit. Now, I see I'm no different than how I was nine years ago. Damn it all!"

Winry was more than a little bit confused."Huh? What are you talking about?" She asked. I looked at her before continuing. "That night, Al wanted to turn back! Again I didn't listen! Again I forced him to continue! AND AGAIN HE'S THE ONE WHO SUFFERS FROM IT!" I couldn't stop my voice from raising when I said that. I truly felt like crap for not listening to him _again. _

"Ed, you're looking at this the wrong way. You wouldn't of been out there in the first place if Al didn't beg you to." She tried to help me but it was making it worse.

"If I had listened to him about the transmutation, we would have had normal lives. If I had listened to him about this, he wouldn't be suffering so much again. This is all my fault no matter how you look at it. I'll make it right. I swear it." I meant it. I was going to get Al back to normal if it cost me everything.

"Winry, I need to solve something. Could you go get me a pen and some paper?" I asked. "Sure, I'll go ask the front desk lady if she has any." She told me and left the room. When she came back with the supplies I immediately began to work. She sat behind me and watched curiously.

"What are you doing?" She asked, after she couldn't figure it out herself. "I went to that house and got something that I think could help. I figured the answers were in code that could lead to something." I answered her, not once looking up from my work.

"Are you sure you're not over thinking it? It looks like a normal conversation about tea." She said, reading the words I was writing down. "I don't know, maybe it-" I stopped talking when I heard something. I looked down to see the pen had pierced through the paper. "GAAH! Damn it why does this always happen on soft surfaces!?" I asked, gathering the papers and moving to the floor.

"Maybe you should just wait until we get home to do that." She reasoned. "No, this has to be done as soon as possible, even if it-" I stopped talking again when I looked down to see the pen had pierced through again.

"WHAT? REALLY PEN? JUST CAUSE I'M ON THE GROUND AND THERE'S A SMALL DENT IN THE FLOOR YOU PIERCE THROUGH IT?" I said, yelling at the pen. "Okay that's it just wait until you get home sheesh." She said, taking the pen and paper away from me.

"What? Hey! I wasn't done yelling at him!" I shouted, pointing to the pen. Winry sighed.

"Get some sleep Ed."

**Als pov**

I have to wake up. What is this? I was in the hospital a minutes ago.

_"__Alphonse, over here." _A voice called me. I followed it.

_"__Closer, closer. Come to me." _I wasn't turning back. I wanted answers.

_"__There you are. Welcome, my puppet." _

(Normal is Al, slanted is mystery guy)

"Who are you?"

_"__I'm you." _

"No you're not, I'm me. Who are you really?

_"__Look at you, pretending to be tough. Still, we both know that in the end you'll just be saved by your brother."_

"No."

_"__You know he won't give up. He loves you so much he'll do anything to get you back to normal. Even if it cost him everything."_

"No."

_"__I'll have fun with him. Using your body I'll torture him."_

"No!"

_"__Why are you constantly causing trouble to him? Don't you wish you could be strong and tough like him? To no longer be a burden?" _

"Shut up!"

_"__You've already seen my power. I was able to almost kill him!"_

"You monster!"

_"__But, I'm you. By saying__I'm a monster you're really saying that the monster is-"_

"Enough!"

_"__You." _

"Please, just tell me what you want!"

_"__What I want? This is what you want." _

"No it's not!"

_"__You called to me that night."_

"I don't remember doing that!"

_"__That's because, like I said earlier, you chose to forget." _

"Well I want to remember now! I don't want to be clueless anymore. I want to know how this all started!"

_"__Hmph. Very well."_

Images flashed by. It was me, in that room. Two large mirrors around me. Inside the mirrors were the most wicked faces I had ever seen. The me in the flash back never looked at them though, just kept staring forward. We were having a conversation. I was telling them how I wanted to understand them, to get stronger. Then they offered giving me supreme power. I accepted it.

"What? How could I ever accept such a thing! I would never do that!"

_"__Oh, but you did. The proof is right here."_

"Liar! I wasn't myself then, and you know it!"

_"__Looking for excuses?"_

"NO! Admit it, you forced me to do that!"

_"__Hmm?"_

"Long before I entered that room I was already feeling strange! You were manipulating me, weren't you?"

_"__Hah, very clever."_

"Why? Why would you do that?"

_"__Because it's amusing."_

"You mess with our lives for FUN?"

_"__Hmm, let me think. Yep that seems about right."_

"Curse you."

_"__Well look who has a temper this time. Isn't it usually your brother who looses his cool?"_

"I don't care! There's no logic behind this madness!"

_"__Well, if you're looking for a logical reason, you're not gonna find one." _

"You terrible-"

_"__Oh times up you're waking up. "_

"What? We're not done here!"

_"__Goodbye." _

When I woke up, I was in the hospital. This time I was in a bed instead of the chair I was in. I looked out the window to see the sun slowly setting. 'Great, I probably gave Ed a heart attack. No matter what the thing said I don't believe it. Nobody, not even a demon would mess around with peoples lives just forfun. He must be gaining something, or working for somebody. He wouldn't waste his time on fun.'

"If you can hear me, I'm not letting you win! I'll fight you and put an end to you once and for all!"

_"__I look forward to that." _

**Dang, long chapter. 2,644 words. o.o Please leave a review, or favorite, or follow. I really appreciate them!  
**


	11. Chapter 10

**Holy cow an early update!? I'm on a roll! Before we get to the story I'm gonna do review time! **

**A mysterious illusion: I love how enthusiastic you always are! :D **

**Rei-la-da: You just made my day. Thank you :D**

**H: That pen thing happened to me once too lol **

**drea: My...culture? I don't really have a culture I'm American. XD Well I guess there's always the superbowl, memorial day, 4th of july and thanksgiving. **

**Onto the chapter!**

**Als pov**

The next morning the doctor said we could all go home. On our way home I couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching us. I constantly threw glances over my shoulder.

"You okay Al?" Ed asked, picking up on my behavior. "It's nothing, nothing at all." I responded. I didn't want him to worry any more than he already was. It didn't work cause I felt him watching me too. I couldn't blame him, he did care about me.

"_Care about you?" _That voice said. I spun around and looked everywhere._"__Idiot you can't see me, because I'm you." _The voice said before laughing. I vaguely felt someone shaking my shoulder.

"Hey Al, snap out of it!" Ed shouted, shaking me. I came out of my daze. "Oh, sorry about that." I apologized, smiling. Ed looked even more worried now. Usually I would tell him what's wrong, but today I couldn't. I had already made up my mind on what course of action I was willing to take to stop myself from hurting anyone else.

"Ed, when we get home I need to talk to you and Winry." I told them. "Uh, sure Al." Winry said. Ed didn't mind either. When we opened the door I pushed them towards the kitchen and we all sat down. "What is it Al?" they asked at the same time. They blushed which caused me to laugh.

"Anyways, I've figured out a way we can stop me from hurting anyone else!" I said, excitedly. They stared at me, shocked. "What do you mean?" Ed asked. "Well I figured that if we locked me in the basement-" I couldn't even finish telling my idea before Ed jumped out of his chair.

"WHAT? No way in hell is that going to happen!" He shouted, slamming his hands on the table. I coward away in my seat. He could be really scary when he was mad.

"Ed sit down or I'll get the wrench!" Winry threatened. He sat down, crossing his arms. As we both knew, Winry was way more terrifying when she was angry. "Al you can continue now." Winry told me. She pointed at Ed and said "And you better not interrupt him." After that I continued.

"It's just that way you could lock me in." Ed was growing more angry the more I suggested it. Winry held out her wrench at him to make sure he wouldn't act up. "And then I won't be able to hurt anybody so we can figure out how to solve this. You should tie me up also, to be safe." That was the last straw. Ed grabbed Winrys wrench and threw it behind him so he could freely yell at me.

Winry yelled at Ed, and Ed yelled at me. It was like a crazy cycle. Finally they settled down again. "Al, no. I'm not locking you down in the basement. I mean, how would you eat? Or use the restroom?" Ed asked. He had a point.

"I could always bring him food. And you could always wait outside the door when he uses the restroom." Winry suggested. Ed banged his head on the table repeatedly."Why are you supporting this Winry!?" Ed asked. Me and her looked at each other, I nodded, knowing what she wanted to tell him.

"Because I'd rather he do this than try to kill himself again." She stated. Ed fell out of his chair. "HE TRIED TO DO WHAT!?" He asked, looking at me. I nodded slowly. 'Poor brother having to take in all this at once.' I thought.

"Why would you do that Al?" He asked, not sounding angry, but heartbroken. It was rare for me to see Ed on the verge of tears. I instantly felt guilty, tears stinging my own eyes.

"I'm sorry, b-brother. I just, I didn't want to hurt you again." I explained. The tears were freely running down my cheeks. "Uh- geez Al don't cry. I hate it when you do that." He told me, placing a hand on my shoulder. I don't know how Ed was always so strong. All I could ever do was cry.

_"__You're such a weakling."_ The voice said. If there was something we could agree on, it was the fact I was so weak. I wiped my tears away and looked up at him. "Please, I'm asking you to make sure that I can't hurt anyone again. I couldn't bear it if I woke up and you or Winry were dead! Please, Ed." I begged. Ed was still for a moment, then he patted my head before speaking.

"If this is what you want Al. Don't worry, We'll solve this. I swear I won't rest until we do." He said, determined. He wasn't gonna give up, I could tell. I just had to have faith in him again.

**Eds pov **

I couldn't believe I was really locking Al in the basement. Fears ran through my mind such as if he ran out of oxygen, starved to death, or rats ate him. I knew all of those would never happen, but I still didn't want him doing this.

"Al, why don't we just lock you in your room?" I asked. He shook his head. "My room has windows. It wouldn't be hard to break them and then jump outside. Then I could do who knows what." He explained. He had a point.

"Still, does it have to be the basement?" I asked. "it's the only room with no windows and a lock." He replied. I sighed and unlocked the basement door. He walked inside without hesitation. He looked around and nodded.

"This will work, hopefully. You sure you don't want to tie me up?" He asked. I can't believe he asked me that. "I'm positive. No way could I do that." I told him. He sat down on the chair we moved in there. I also brought in blankets and pillows.

"But if you don't I could transmute or break the door down." He explained. I sighed. "No Al, I'm not tying you up." I said. "You have to! Please brother, you have to." He told me. "I can't do that!" I shouted back.

"Ed, please. You just have to tie me to this chair." He said. I shook my head. There was some rope in the corner of the basement. Al grabbed the rope and sat down on the chair. "Al, what are you doing?" I asked, curiously watching him.

"If you won't do it I will. I'll need some help tying my hands though." He told me. I had never seen Al so set on something in a long time. I just wished that he didn't have to be set on stopping himself at all cost.

"I can't believe I'm about to do this." I whispered. I walked over and snatched the rope away from him. I tied his chest to the chair, and then tied his hands, making sure the palms faced opposite directions.

"Thanks Ed." What the hell was he thanking me for? I just tied him up for gates sake! "I really don't like this." I told him. "I know, but I really appreciate that you tied me up anyways. If Winry asks, just tell her I forced you to."

"Okay." After making sure the knots were secured, I walked over to the door. I left the room and closed it. I turned the key and after the 'click' sound, walked away.

'Why,why,why did it come to this? I swear Al, you won't have to suffer for long.' I still hated the fact Al was a prisoner in my own house. I was walking to my study when Winry stopped me.

"Hey how'd it go?" She asked. "Well he forced me to tie him up, said it was the only way." I answered. She sighed. "That's just like Al. Not caring what happens to him as long as everyone else is ok." She told me.

"It's not the first time he was willing to lock himself up for the benefit of others. On the night before the promise day we were fighting with Pride. To stop Pride from interfering Al came up with the idea to lockhimself in a dome with the enemy." I told her.

"Wow, I don't think you told me that before. That sure does sound like him though.I'm gonna go keep him company. do we have a spare key to the basement?" She asked. I pulled out another basement key out of my pocket and handed it to her. Once she left I went into my study room to try to decode what that thing said at the house.

I wrote down what it told me word for word on a sheet of paper. I then got another piece of paper to write down my theories. The first thing it said was the "teas fantastic isn't it?" That could mean a number of things. I wrote down several theories but none of them made much sense.

'Wait, what if they're referring to Al?' I asked myself. I wrote that down and it made sense. It would translate to "Al is fantastic isn't he?" I wasn't so sure that was right but it was all I got.

The next thing it said was "it was too sweet at first so I had to add other ingredients." I came to the conclusion that once again it was talking about Al. "He was too sweet at first, so we had to add things to change him" is what seemed to make the most sense. There was the chance all this was just nonsense about tea. Still I had to try.

Next sentence was "The cookies and biscuits took a very long time, but in the end they turned out just right." Okay this mentioned two. Who else was involved in this? Were they like Al too? No, maybe this was still talking about Al and was meant to throw me off track. No way was I letting those things get the best of me. So in the end that sentence was nothing new still talking about how he was a success.

The third sentence was "I wasn't sure if I made the cookies right but I followed the instructions and it worked out." That one didn't seem too hard. I translated it to "i was unsure if it was successful, but I followed orders and it worked." So this leads to the fact someone else is operating all of this too. Just what was this project, and what was the purpose?

Fourth sentence was about dropping the cookies. I figured that was about someone else who was a victim like Al. Was a success at first, but there was a mistake and they died. It made sense, but just because it made sense didn't make it proof.

Fifth sentence they said the cookies got burned before coming out of the oven. It took me no time at all to figure this one out. The second victim died before being completed. Sixth sentence said how the third batch (Al) came out just right, meaning Al was a success. Finally I had a clue. This was a project, an experiment. It involved messing with peoples lives. What experiment was it? What was the purpose? Who was behind it? Instead of solving my questions this only created new ones.

"I guess this wasn't answers then." I muttered. "Something wrong Ed?" Winry asked from behind. I fell out of my chair, bringing some papers down with me. "Don't scare me like that Winry." I told her, dusting off my clothes. She laughed and handed me a plate full of food. "You've been working in here for hours, I thought I should bring you some dinner." I stared at her blankly. Had it really been that long?

"Eat up! I'm gonna go deliver some to Al too." I didn't reply, I was too distracted by picking up papers. When I turned around she was gone. 'Wait, is she gonna feed it to him? He can't use his hands tied up like that.' I wondered. I shrugged it off and looked over my notes to make sure there was nothing I missed.

**Als pov**

_"__I'll admit, this was clever. Locking yourself up like this prevents me from doing anything." _The voice told me. I smiled. "Not so tough now, are you?" I asked him._"__I can still gain control of your body. Once I see an opportunity, I'll take it." _It told me. "I'll make sure that opportunity never comes around the corner." I stated.

After a minute of silence I heard a knock on the door. "Al, it's me. I brought dinner!" Winry said, unlocking the door._"__Perfect." _They said. Before I knew it I could only see blackness. I could hear what was going on, but I couldn't see or control it. "What did you do!?" I asked, searching for anything that could be a way out.

_"__What does it look like? I took control of your body again. Isn't it familiar? Oh that's right, you were unconscious. Well this time you'll stay conscious and remember everything. Enjoy the show." _I was horrified. He took control of me so easily! Well as long as he stayed tied up there was nothing he could do. I stayed quiet to listen.

"Hey Winry, is that for me?" I heard "me" ask. "Yep! Eat up!" I heard her placing something down. "I'm sorry to cause so much trouble all the time." He said. I couldn't stand it! He was actually trying to pretend to be me!

'Please Winry, please notice that it's not me.' I said. I knew she couldn't hear me from where I was.

"I told you to stop thinking like that. It's no trouble at all! Now eat up!" She said cheerfully. "Um, I'm really sorry, but I can't. My hands are sort of..." He trailed off. "It's okay, I can feed you!" She suggested. "No, I couldn't ask you to do such a thing." He said. It all clicked. He was trying to get Winry to untie his hands!

'Winry, don't untie him! It's not me!' I shouted. It was hopeless. I was hopeless. I was always so easily controlled. "Well, I guess I can temporarily untie you. I'll even keep you company while you eat!" She said.

'NO WINRY! PLEASE DON'T!" I shouted as loud as I could. I ran around frantically looking for something, anything that could help me reach her! "Okay." He agreed. I heard the sound of someone picking at something. I knew she was trying to untie him.

'WINRY STOP! IT'S NOT ME! PLEASE STOP!' I knew nothing could stop her now. "This knot is tricky! Don't worry it will only take a minute." She told him. 'YOU JERK! IF YOU HURT ED OR WINRY I'LL-'

_"__You'll do what? You can't harm me." _He was right. Before long I heard the ropes slipping off. "There we go! I-" Before she finished, I heard the sound of clapping.

'DONT!' I begged. I heard a large thud. After that I heard Winry coughing. "Thanks for untying me brat." He said.'YOU HURT HER DIDN'T YOU!? I'LL-'_'Wow you're way too annoying to keep conscious. Nighty night.' _At that moment I felt extremely sleepy. I tried to stay awake, but it was a lost cause.

"Ed-ward run." I whispered before blacking out. I failed to protect them.

**I'm not too happy with my writing in this chapter but I hope it's bearable. I have no clue where this story is heading so lets enjoy the ride shall we? Please leave a review/favorite/follow if you enjoyed! It's really appreciated! **


	12. Chapter 11

** Guess what people! I've been winging this story since the first chapter but now I've finally figured out where this story is gonna go! Also hooray for a day early update! **

**Disclaimer: I'm American...**

**Eds pov **

"Dammit, so many questions!" I shouted in frustration. The more I looked at what I wrote down the more confused I became. I didn't even know if I was right or just being thrown of guard.

"Maybe I should just call the damn military and get Mustangs help. Haha, yeah right. That's the last thing I want to do. I can see it now. 'Ed? Hello? Oh I couldn't hear you through the phone your soundwaves must be short-lived.' To which I'll reply 'I'm not short anymore!' Yeah no I'll think of another option." I grumbled.

Unfortunately for me there was no other option. The military somehow, someway all linked up to this. "Alright, Alright I'll call the damn bastard!" I got up and went into the kitchen. There where the phone was hooked up I remembered the number I had to call so many times before. I turned the dial and waited.

"This is central headquarters how may we help you?" The feminine voice on the other line asked. "I know this is a lot to ask but I need to talk to the Fuhrer." I explained.

"You're calling on an outside line, could you tell me your military code?" She asked. Right, of course. The military code number. I should of thought this through. "There's no time for that! My name is Edward Elric, I used to be the Fullmetal Alchemist." I tried to explain.

"I'm sorry but unless you have proof that you work for the state I cannot patch you through." She said. I was extremely irritated. What more did the lady want? "This is a life and death situation! Just get him on the damn phone so that-" I was cut off by the sound of beeping.

"DID SHE HANG UP ON MEH!?" I asked, throwing the phone on the ground. I turned around to see Al standing there, with the phone cord in his hands. "Hello, brother. Who were you calling?" He asked too innocently to be innocent. I took three steps back.

"Al. What are you doing here?" I asked, looking around for anything I could use as a weapon. "What do you mean? I live here of course! Is there something wrong with me being in my own house?" He asked, stepping close to me. Each step he took closer, I took one back.

"What's wrong brother? You look a little... uneasy." He asked. Well of course I was uneasy! I tied him up and yet there he was. And where was Winry!? "Where's Winry!?" I asked, more demanding than a question. "She's tired. Let her rest for now." He told me. I was filled with anger. What did that mean?

"What did you do to her!? If you hurt her-" He cut me off. "Relax, she's alive. I just knocked her out. It's not in me to kill a lady first. You will have to go down first!" Before I knew it Al was charging at me with all his might, a spear in hand.

**Meanwhile at headquarters (nobodys pov)**

Fuhrer Mustang walked through the halls in central headquarters.. It was getting late but the leader of the country never had time to sleep. As he was getting close to his office he noticed the secretary on the phone. "Hello? Hello?" She asked. This puzzled Mustang and he decided to see what was wrong.

"Is something the matter?" He asked politely. "Sir!" She sprung up and saluted before continuing. "No, it's nothing. Just someone pretending to be the Fullmetal Alchemist." She explained. Roy sighed.

'Kids these days.' He thought.

**Back in Resembool (Eds pov) **

Oh hell no! I was not about to loose again! I fought back, landing a few hits and kicks. I ran into the kitchen and grabbed a large knife. "Nice to see you're no longer afraid to kill me!" Al shouted, lunging towards me. I knew if this kept up my wound would reopen and then I wouldn't be able to fight.

"I'm not gonna kill you, but I will stop you!" With that I made a swift move and stabbed Al in the shoulder. "That hurt, you know! Your brothers gonna be so upset when he finds out you stabbed him!" Al said. I laughed.

"No he won't! He'll probably be glad I did and wonder why I didn't kill him altogether! He's too kind, which is why you need to get out of him!" I landed another blow on his opposite shoulder. Al smirked and clapped his hands. He was able to make a cage bypassing the laws of equivalent exchange. As it was about to fall down on me, I rolled out of the way. It came crashing on the floor, causing the entire house to shake.

"Is that the best you can do?" I asked. He looked visibly ticked off. He transmuted a giant hand and tried to crush me. Before it could grab me I slipped out of the way. I didn't want my entire house to be destroyed so I kicked open the front door and ran outside.

"No! Stop! Get back here!" Al shouted. He followed me and chased me down. I ran to the back of the house in an attempt to buy time. "There's plenty of room out here for us to fight! Bring it-" I couldn't finish what I was saying before I bumped into something.

"What the hell?" I asked, tripping. I looked around for the cause. It was a little boy. He had short silver hair and blue eyes. "What are you doing out so late, kid?" I questioned. He looked scared and before I could get an answer he took off running.

'Well that was weird and unexpected.' I mumbled. Realizing the situation, I jumped back to my feet, knife in hand. I looked around but I could see no sign of Al. I looked up expecting a jump attack but there was only a bird.

"Come on out! You can't hide forever!" I shouted as loud as I could. There was no reply. I kept my ears on alert, looking for the slightest noise to tell me of his presence. Hearing nothing I sighed in frustration and began walking to the front of the house.

"Where the hell are you?" I asked. Nearing the front porch I noticed something laying in the grass. It was Al. I walked over cautiously, not knowing if it was a trap or not. I shook his shoulder to try to wake him up. "Hey Al! Al? Al wake up!" I gave him a light kick to the side. His eyes opened and he looked up at me.

"Morning brother." He mumbled sleepy."Al, is it really you? Are you back to normal?" I asked, backing up in caution. He looked confused. "Hmm?" He looked around the area before jumping up. "What happened!? Wasn't I tied up? No, he got control again! Where's Winry, please tell me I didn't kill anyone!" He said all at once in panic.

"Relax Al. I was told Winry was alive and you didn't hurt me." He seemed to relax a bit. "How did you stop me?" He asked. I shrugged."I didn't stop you. You just sort of passed out randomly." I told him. He began getting some pieces of grass out of his hair when we heard Winrys voice.

"Ed? Al? Are you okay!?" She asked, running towards us. Me and Al let out a breath we didn't know we were holding. "Yeah. The only one harmed this time was Al. Don't worry, I made sure not to do any serious damage, but he should still be looked at." I told her. She grabbed her knees and panted. It was clear she ran the entire time searching for us.

"Whew. Well I'm... glad nobody was...killed." She said between her pants. When we walked back inside, Al immediately began fixing up the house. Once he was done we sat down and decided on a plan. "That didn't work well." I sighed. Even tying him up and locking him in the basement wasn't enough.

"It would of if I didn't untie him. I'm sorry." She apologized. I put a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, you didn't know." I comforted her. I looked over to Al to see his face stained with tears. "I'm so sorry Winry." He sobbed. I walked over to Al and hugged him.

"Don't cry. It's not your fault. It's unfair that after everything you've gone through you have to go through this too. We will get through this, I'll return you to normal once again. I promise Al." I comforted. For some reason it only made him sob harder.

"You've already done so much for me. For you to have to do this too isn't fair! I should just die." He stated. I released the hug and grabbed him hard on the shoulders. He yelped a bit from the pain.

"Don't you EVER say that again! We're family, no matter what happens we stick together. No matter how much more pain we go through, the good and bad times, we stick together! Because that's what a family is!" I shouted. Al stopped crying and nodded.

"Right. We can't give up, we've come too far." He said. I smiled. "That's more like it. Now get ready, we're going to central. Damn military won't answer my calls so I'll have to see the bastard in person." I mumbled. Al and Winry laughed. In under thirty minutes everyone was packed up and ready to go.

On Als request, I tied his hands apart. I still wasn't happy about it, but we didn't want to risk anything. We waited at the station until the train arrived. Only us and one other person were getting on the train that late. We got strange looks from the conductor and that other person since Al was tied up, but we ignored them. When the train started moving I looked out the window and saw the boy from before. He glared at us until he was out of sight. Could he be important?

That night I didn't get much sleep. I was too busy thinking over things. I noticed Al wasn't sleeping much either. We both gave each other a look that read 'we need to talk.' Since after all the years spent together we had a clear understanding of each other. We both got up and moved to another cart. There, since it was empty and nobody would be disturbed, we began talking.

"Brother, right before we left the station, I heard the voice." He told me. I was puzzled. "Voice? What voice?" I asked. "The voice that always talks to me. He told me I couldn't get away." Al shivered.

"It's going to be okay Al. Just trust me. Since we're talking about weird things, when we were fighting I went outside and bumped into a little boy. He didn't answer me when I asked him what he was doing. As the train was leaving I saw him again." I explained. Al sat down and thought about it. "Do you think he could be involved?" Al asked. I shrugged.

"I don't know, maybe. It's not really likely though. Probably just a coincidence." Al nodded. We sat there thinking before I spoke up. "It's late we shouldn't worry too much. Lets go back and try to sleep." I said. He nodded and we went back to where Winry was and slept as much as we could.

When morning came, we were in Central. I of course was the one to carry all the luggage since Al was tied up and Winry was lazy. I would never say that to her though, I'd be hit with a wrench. We checked in at a hotel and settled down. Again on Als request, I tied him to the hotel desk chair. Winry said she'd watch over him and make sure that this time he couldn't transmute. After double checking the knots I ran out of the hotel and up the steps of central headquarters. When I got to the top of the stairs I saw a man in a black coat with brown hair and blue eyes trying to get past an officer.

"Please! This is an emergency! Let me through!" The man shouted, trying to get inside. 'Looks like this isn't gonna be easy either.' I thought. The officer pushed the man down on the steps. "I already told you yesterday you can't come through! Now get lost!" The officer shouted. The man stood up and dusted off his coat.

"This is important! My name is Peter Walter I used to work for the military now let me in!" He shouted. The name caught my attention. Could it be Ellie Walters husband? I walked up to the officer. "It's okay this guy is with me." I said playing it cool. The officer stared at me.

"Well if it isn't the Fullmetal Alchemist! Are you here to rejoin the military?" He asked. "I couldn't even if I wanted to. However I have something really important to do so could me and my partner here come in?" I asked. The officer nodded and opened the door. I didn't expect it to be that easy since it was hell over the phone. Then again they couldn't see what I looked like over the phone.

Once inside I immediately saw a face I remembered. Havoc was in his blue uniform and walking around holding papers. He looked in my direction then did a double take. He ran over to me. "Chief? What are you doing here?" He asked, shocked.

"Me and my pal here have something the military might be interested in. Where's Mustang?" I asked. "He's in a meeting but you can wait for him in his office. I doubt he'll mind." Havoc said, escorting me there. Peter stared in disbelief. As we were walking up the stairs Peter whispered to me.

"Just who are you and why are you helping me?" he asked. "The names Edward Elric. You have a wife named Ellie Walter right?" I asked. He nodded. "I was your repair man. Turns out you and me both want answers from the state on what's going on in that house." I explained.

"You question that place too?" He asked. I nodded."Yep! And I want to get answers from that bastard." I said. Havoc stopped in front of a door. "We're here. I hope this is important for your sake." Havoc teased.

"Trust me this is very important. Hey, where's the meeting being held?" I asked. "Same place it's always held in the meeting room on the second floor." He answered.

"Okay thanks!" I said before running off. I turned around to see Havoc and Peter staring at me. It wasn't long until Peter started chasing me telling me to not bother them. Havoc just laughed and walked away. When I reached the meeting room door I stopped to catch my breath. Peter caught up to me quickly.

"What are you going to do? You can't bother the Fuhrer! He's the Fuhrer!" He stated. I laughed. "He could be God and I still wouldn't care!" With that, I kicked the meeting door down.. There were many men in blue uniforms around a table. They all wore shocked expressions while Hawkeye and Mustang sighed. Peter cowered behind me in disbelief.

"Are you insane!? We're gonna get in jail for this!" He whispered fiercely. I replied with 'meh' and walked inside. "Yo Mustang! We need to talk!" I said casually. Peter backed away and stared at me. He was expecting the worse to happen to me.

"You never change, do you, Fullmetal?" He asked. "Nope! And the names Ed not Fullmetal." I reminded him. Roy did his signature smirk. "There's a sign on the door that says meeting in progress. Or was it too high up for you to read?" I clenched my fist before releasing my anger.

"WHO YOU CALLING SO SHORT HE CAN'T EVEN READ A SIGN THAT'S NOT EVEN HIGH UP!?" I asked angry. Peters eyes kept widening. "That's not what I said and you know it." Mustang smirked. He just loved watching me react didn't he?

"Anyways this is important so lets go!" I gestured for Mustang to follow. "Whatever it is can wait until after my meeting. Feel free to wait in my office until then. Just make sure the furniture doesn't swallow you whole, it's bigger." He said, smirking. I grew even more irritated and before I could walk up and punch him, someone grabbed me and pulled me out of the room.

"Peter what the hell! He had it coming!" I whined as he dragged me away. "We should be grateful we're not dead already! I can't believe the Fuhrer hasn't turned you into charcoal already!" He told me. "Hmph. Believe it or not me and the Bastard go way back. If he hasn't killed me yet than he never will." I told him. When we got back in the office I sat down on a leather couch. Peter sat on the one across from me.

"So, Peter, your wife told me about your friend. I'm sorry to hear that." I apologized. He stared at me curiously."She told you that much? Why?" He asked."Because currently my brother is being controlled by something. It started when we went into that house. I don't know who or what's behind it, but I want answers as badly as you do." I said.

"My friend Nicholas was my best friend. We became soldiers together. When I got married I decided to retire to the countryside. We kept in touch through letters, then when he got sent here on that mission he started changing. He was a skeptic yet he started believing in ghost and it was all because of that house. Next thing I knew he was dead." Peter said sadly.

"Well we won't let his death go to waste. We're gonna figure this out. What do you say? Want to work together?" I asked, extending my hand. He smiled and shook it.

"Gladly."

**Sorry to cut it off there but this is 3,000 words! :D Please leave a review or favorite or follow if you enjoyed. I promise next chapter we'll get answers! Cya next time! **


	13. Chapter 12

***pant* Whew I was worried that I wouldn't update in time. School started on Monday for me so I've been busy with homework. That's not stopping me though, so to the chapter! Remember this is rated T for a reason. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own fma**

**Eds pov**

Me and Peter sat in silence, waiting for Mustang to come in. My patience was fading fast. The office was boring as hell. I constantly squirmed in my seat because the leather sofa was really getting on my nerves.

"Can you sit still?" Peter asked, annoyed. "Well maybe I could if it wasn't so uncomfortable!" I snapped back. He sighed and sunk into the other couch. "I don't know how you can think these couches are not comfy." He mumbled. I paid him no attention and scanned the room for something to read. Through to corner of my eye I saw a book. I got up from the couch and picked it up.

"What are you doing? That's not yours! Put that down!" He ordered. I chuckled before flipping it open. "As if I could care about his-" I was cut off mid sentence upon noticing the contents of the book. I immediately shut it and threw it on the floor.

"The hell!? Sick bastard..." I said before returning to my seat. Peter caught on and started laughing. "That's what you get, kid." He laughed. "Don't call me a kid! And how was I supposed to know it would be a poorly written book about alchemy! Seriously, the author was totally off about theories..." I ranted. Peter looked confused.

"Oh. Is that what it was? I thought it was- never mind." He stopped himself. I was confused until I realized what he meant. "What? Nonono that wasn't it at all!" I shouted. I could feel my face heat up, causing him to laugh more.

We both calmed down after a minute or so. After what felt like forever, Mustang walked through the door. "You certainly took your damn time." I whispered under my breath. "I heard that, Fullmetal. And show some respect, I am the Fuhrer now." He said proudly, his signature smirk crossed his features.

"How about you stop calling me Fullmetal first?" I retorted. He sighed and sat down. "Ok then, _Edward_. Why don't you tell me what's so important as to disturb my meeting. While you're at it tell me who this man is." He said, pointing to Peter.

"This is a friend of mine. He lives in Resembool. We're both here for the same reason." I explained. "Nice to meet you sir, I'm Peter Walter. I used to work for the military myself. Pardon us for our intrusion." Peter said, all too politely. "Don't be so polite to this bastard. It'll make me sick." Both Mustang and Peter glared at me.

"So sorry about him sir." Peter apologized. I sighed. I wasn't doing anything wrong! "It's alright, over the years I've gotten used to his childish antics." Mustang told him. The bastard. "Um, I'm right here you know!" I reminded them. "We know. Now hurry up with the reason you came here. I'm a busy man you know." He told me. Every minute I spent with him the more I wanted to punch him.

"Okay, well how do I explain this. Apparently a soldier came to our town and messed shit up. Als now insane and nearly killed me against his will cause he's being controlled. That soldier happened to be Peters friend, and he ended up dead. Everything is connected to this house, and trust me that house is not normal. The rooms can change at the drop of a hat and somethings living there. People think it's ghost, but I'm still a logical person. Even if it does seem like Al is possessed. Right now he's tied up at the hotel with Winry watching him. As long as he can't move he can't do anything." I said in one breath.

Mustang stared at me, shocked. It was the most emotion I've seen out of him in a long time. "...Are you serious?" He asked. I groaned and nodded."I wouldn't lie about this! So tell me, did you order someone to Resembool to perform a strange alchemy ritual or something?" I asked, angry.

"He wasn't the one. It was a General, that's all Nicholas told me." Peter told us. Mustang still seemed a bit shocked, but snapped out of it. "I was never informed of anyone being stationed to Resembool. Fullmetal, you know as well as I do that ghost don't exist." I slapped my forehead.

"I know that, dammit! How do we explain this then? You better look into it! This is Al we're talking about! We have to help him!" I shouted, standing up. "Calm down, Edward." he commanded. "NO I WILL NOT CALM DOWN! THIS IS MY BROTHER WE'RE TALKING ABOUT! I'M NOT GONNA LET HIM SUFFER ANYMORE!" I shouted, raising my voice a lot higher than it was a minute ago. Before Mustang could reply there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." He instructed. The door swung open and in walked Hawkeye. She waved to me and I waved back. "Hello sir, I brought something for you to sign." She said, handing him the papers. As she was leaving, she noticed me slumped into the couch.

"Is something the matter Ed?" She asked me. It was just like her to read me like a book. "Everything's fine Hawkeye." I assured her. She nodded, then left the room. Mustang cleared his throat to break the sudden silence.

"I'll look into it and see if there was anyone who was sent to Resembool. If you could tell me the soldiers name I'll look for him on the missing soldiers list." Mustang said, referring to Peters friend. "His name was Nicholas Ehrlichmann." Peter said. Mustang dropped his pen. His mouth flew open, and he looked utterly shocked.

"Nicholas is dead?" He asked. "You knew him?" Peter asked, curious. Mustang nodded. "Me and him were good acquaintances. Met a few times on occasion. He was a fine man. I'm sorry to hear this. I'll make sure he gets a proper memorial. What I don't understand is why the military was unaware of his death." Mustang pointed out.

"Resembools a small town. News doesn't get to central from there." I told him. Peter nodded in agreement. "I see. Ful- Ed, explain to me everything that has happened in every possible detail. I need to know what it is I'm getting involved in." I nodded and took a deep breath. It was going to take me a while to tell him everything.

**30 minutes later**

I finally finished telling him the events of the last few days. His face had an unreadable expression. He probably didn't want his mask to slip off again. After a minute of silence he spoke up.

"I'll do whatever I can to help you solve this. I have a clue of where to look, but it'll take me some time. If you could stay in central for a few more days that would help. Write down which hotel you're staying at and which room. I'll contact you when I have any answers." He said, handing me a note. I scribbled on the information and got up to leave.

I was about to turn the doorknob when I decided to say something I knew I would regret later. "Thank you, bastard." I whispered. I left the room before he could say anything else. Peter followed after me and out onto the streets.

"Hey, I'm staying at the motel down the street. Room 23. Let me know when something happens." He said. "Gotcha, I will." With that I made my way to the hotel room.

**Meanwhile at the hotel (Als pov)**

Me and Winry were silent for a while. The whole situation was awkward. She was the first to break the silence."Hey Al, are you hungry?" I shook my head. "No, I'm fine, honest." I answered. She looked at me for a moment, then took out a book on automail and read it. I sat tied up, glancing at the wall clock.

'I hope Mustang can help us.' I hoped. Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Me and Winry froze and looked at the door. "Room service!" I cheery, female voice said. I looked to Winry, then looked down to the ropes binding me.

"I've got this Al. Just follow my lead." She whispered. She got up and unlocked the door, letting the cleaning lady in. She had gray hair tied in a bun and brown eyes. She wore a casual dress and a white apron. "It's pretty clean in here, actually. You don't have to do anything." Winry told her. She shook her head.

"I have to, it's my job." She explained, before stepping in. Winry tried to prevent her from entering but failed. Once in the room the first thing she noticed was me tied up. "Oh my goodness! Sir, are you alright?" She asked, running to where I sat.

"Yeah, yeah, everything's fine, we're just, um..." I scanned my brain for any explanation I could think of. Me and brother were never in a situation like this. What do you say to someone who thinks you're being held prisoner? I was about to speak when Winry spoke up.

"It's a game! Called...er...tie me find me. All the kids are doing it these days! Heheheh." She explained awkwardly. "Y-yeah! We were actually getting ready to play." I said, trying to back Winry up. The old lady looked puzzled.

"I don't think I've ever heard of that game. Is it new?" She asked. "Yeah, its new!" Me and Winry both said. "Okay...How does the game work?" She asked. I sighed. That old lady was too curious and not backing down.

"Well um, first you tie your friend up. Then you...go hide! Yeah, that's it. And then you wait to see how long it takes for them to untie themselves. After they're free they go find you. Then they win." Winry explained. It was hard to believe that she made that up at the top of her head.

"Oh! Well, I'm sorry to interrupt your game. I'll just clean up here then I'll be on my way." She said, smiling. The lady was true to her word. She cleaned a few things and then left. When the door was shut we let out a sigh of relief.

"That was close! Geez, that lady wouldn't give up!" Winry ranted. I started laughing. Winry glared at me. "And just what do you find so amusing?" She asked, crossing her arms. "You're crazy, Winry. I can't believe it! Wow, that was risky but you pulled through! Way to go." I exclaimed, still laughing. "Hah, yeah that was too close." She said, before joining me and laughing. When we heard the door unlock we stopped laughing. We sighed when it was only Ed.

"Sorry to disappoint you..." Ed mumbled, taking off his coat. "That's not it. We were scared it was the cleaning lady again." I told him. He looked confused, then shrugged it off. "Anyways, Mustang said he'd get back to us."

"That's great! I hope we get answers." I said. Winry nodded. The rest of the day we spent talking, and laughing about Eds stories. We were surprised he broke the meeting room door down, but at the same time expected it. At night I slipped into the third bed, my hands still tied. Ed always looked sad about it, but I would remind him that I wanted to be tied up. It still didn't sit right with him though. Soon Ed was snoring and Winry was fast asleep. As I lay there in the still darkness of the room I couldn't stop the tears cascading down my cheeks.

All the doubts I had came into mind and it was too much to bear. I wanted us to live a normal life. Why couldn't we ever have that? It was too cruel. I couldn't agree with what was going on, there was no reason for it. I was supposed to go to school, Ed was supposed to get married. Will all those dreams and hopes vanish? We were so close to it but it got taken away. Again and again it's always us. No matter how much we struggle, or the pain we go through, there's always more. A cruel, never ending cycle, and we're the center of it.

I got pulled out of my thoughts when I felt someone crawl into bed with me. It was only at that point that I realized the snoring had stopped. I turned to meet Eds worried eyes.

(**Note, this is merely a brotherly moment. DO NOT get the wrong idea. .) **

"What are you doing in my bed?" I asked, taken back by this. "I heard you crying, idiot. It'll be okay. We will fix this and we will get answers. Don't give up hope Al. We're brothers, we can pull through this." He comforted. I wiped my tears away before speaking.

"I'm sorry, so sorry. This shouldn't be happening! What did we do wrong?" I asked, becoming hysterical. I tried to stop my tears but they soon overflowed. Not thinking, I leaned towards Ed and sobbed into his chest. He patted my back and said words of reassurance. It brought a sense of nostalgia. The last time he did anything like this was on the night of moms death. Back then I was a mess, and he was always tough. He would tell me that it would be okay, that we would go back to our happy life with her. That we'd bring her back. Even now I'm the one who cries, and he's the one who acts strong.

"We didn't do anything wrong. I don't know why this is happening, but we can pull through. Don't loose hope, that's what they want. We have to stay strong and head on." He told me. I stopped crying and nodded. "Okay. We can do this, and I won't loose hope." I whispered, backing away from him. He smiled and climbed back into his own bed. My eyelids hung low as sleep crept up into me. Before I was completely out, I whispered "Thank you, brother. For everything."

**Eds pov **

The damn sunlight shined through the room, waking me up. I groaned and looked around. Winry was getting up and Al was still asleep. I smiled at how he always looked like a kid when he slept.

"'ornin Edward." Winry mumbled, sleepily. She rubbed her eyes, grabbed her clothes, and headed towards the bathroom. I looked down and saw that once again I slept with my clothes on. It hardly bothered me though, all those years of traveling got me used to it. I stood up and walked over to the mirror. I quickly braided my hair then slid my shoes on. I walked over to Al and shook him awake.

"Morning mom." He mumbled, sitting up. He blinked a few times and then reality hit him. "Oh! Hello brother." He said before getting up. Winry came out of the bathroom dressed. I untied Al briefly but cautiously while he went to go change.

"Did you sleep in your clothes again?" Winry asked. I laughed nervously before nodding. She sighed. "Geez, what am I gonna do with you?" She asked herself rather than asking me. Before long, Al came out dressed and ready to go. I tied his arms again and we headed to the dining room. They were serving breakfast. I got a cup of coffee while Al got the poison known as milk. Winry was sensible enough to get orange juice. Of course Al got tons of stares from the other guest. We each got a plate of waffles and sat down at a small table. The looks only multiplied when Winry had to feed him, much to Als embarrassment.

As we were eating I read the paper to see what was going on in central. As usual, a bunch of peoples first world problems were being published. I was jerked away from the paper to see Al stand up, looking terrified. He spilled his milk all over the table and it slowly dripped to the floor.

"What's wrong Al?" I asked, standing up and wiping the milk off the table. "H-hes here." He stuttered. "Who's here?" I asked. "The voice is back." Was all he said before mindlessly walking towards the front door. "Hey, get back here!" I said, grabbing his arm. His eyes were dull and full of fright. It pained me to see him look like that. Winry cleaned the table and we headed back up the room in hopes of an explanation.

"Okay, what's going on Al?" I asked. Al wasn't responding. It took a few shakes to get him to look up. "S-sorry. The voice. The voice that talks to me. He wasn't here yesterday but he's here now. He said he found me. That he will win. What do we do?" He asked. I didn't know how to answer that.

"Just stay calm Al. We're gonna tie you back up and keep a close eye on you. You'll be safe, I promise." I said. Al was still only half responding. Whoever was putting my brother through so much pain was gonna pay. As I tied him up, Al didn't say anything. Me and Winry sat around trying to make conversation with him but he didn't respond much.

"Al, snap out of it!" I shouted. He looked up at me. "I'm sorry. I can hardly hear you over his voice. He won't stop. It's never been this bad. He says he'll take away everything dear to me. That I'll suffer like him." He told us. I brought my fist down on the bed mattress.

"Damn it all! Leave my brother alone!" I shouted loudly in hopes of whatever it was hearing me. The phone rang and I rushed to answer it. "Hello?" I asked. "Hello there's a call from the military asking to speak to Edward Elric." The front desk lady said.

"Put him through!" I said louder than I meant to. There was a ringing noise and then I heard Mustangs voice. "Ed?" He asked. "I'm here! Did you find anything?" There was a long silence that felt like eternity.

"I need to see you and Al. Immediately. I think I know for certain what's going on." He told me. I gasped. I couldn't believe it. Did we really have answers? "We'll be right over!" I said before hanging up. I untied Al and dragged him out of the room. Winry followed us. "What's going on!? Hey, wait!" She shouted.

"Stay here, Winry. We'll be back!" I shouted over my shoulder, my grip tight on Al."No, I want answers too! I told you this time I wouldn't allow myself to be in the dark!" She said angry, catching up to us. "Fine, alright, alright, alright! You can come lets just hurry up!" We all ended up running faster. Al was still a bit out of it until we neared central headquarters. When we were in the building he seemed completely relaxed.

"The voice...it's gone. I wonder why." He whispered. I sighed a sigh of relief. Now we could both focus on the news mustang had in store for us. We swung the door open, causing Mustang to almost jump out of his seat. "Wow, for once you're actually quick to get here." He said, smirking.

"This is no time for games! Tell us what the hells going on!" I shouted. Al sighed. "Language, brother." Al whispered to me. Winry apologized to the people outside the office and shut the door. "Have a seat, this will take a while to explain." Me Al, and Winry all sat down and looked at him like kids looked at a story teller.

"Six years ago, during the time the military was being run by Bradley, the high ups wanted to work on an experiment. The experiment would be to take a human, and turn them into something similar to a homunculus. They wanted to give this human traits and abilities like one and have them work for the military. This is similar to Bradley but they wouldn't be able to age. They also planned to operate them, control them like a robot. They would have no free choosing of anything and work as a slave. But this of course would strengthen the military so nobody was opposed to this. If I had known about it back then, I would have been opposed and done everything I could of to stop it. I doubt a colonel would of made a difference though."

"So what are you saying?" I asked him, confused. "I'm not finished. The plan was to use a philosopher stone and a special serum combined. The philosopher stone would be for the abilities, and the serums for mind control. There were a hundred victims, all over the age of twenty. They all failed to work and were killed. The part that seemed to always fail was the serum. Then, the head of the project had an idea. He figured that the test subjects were too old and that's why it kept failing. So, they did the unthinkable."

"Don't tell me..." I interrupted. "They went to an orphanage and got a boy and a girl. They wanted to have different genders to see if that would be important. The girl was eight and the boy was ten. According to the papers they were siblings. They were taken by the military and experimented on. Thanks to their youth they survived the project. The high ups were proud of their accomplishment and sworn to silence. The girl could change her looks, similar to Envy. Except she didn't literally change her body, it was a trick of the eyes. However, she could also change how surroundings and items look to appear like something else." He explained.

"I'm guessing she was the Al look alike..." I said. Al looked at me strangely but didn't say anything. "The boys abilities remained unknown for quite sometime. Then one evening, a soldier killed himself for no reason. They soon figured out the boy controlled him to do it. Instead of being controlled, the boy became the controller. It's said he could force someone to do something against their will. The soldiers that visited him said he could also talk to them through minds. Another thing was that if he was controlling an alchemist, he could increase their alchemical power. They soon discovered that the boy always had to be somewhere nearby for his power to work. If he was too far away he couldn't do anything. After realizing that, since they couldn't control him, they moved the girl to a different place and left the boy abandoned to starve to death."

"How awful..." Al said. "The boy managed to escape and went looking for his sister. He controlled many soldiers to find her location. Once he did, he took her and they were never seen again. The documents were supposed to be burned and the experiment never talked about, but when you're the Fuhrer you can find things. That's how I came across these documents. Everything you've said so far matches up to it. In my theory, I think those kids escaped to Resembool and have been hiding in that house. They must of put on an act to scare people away so they couldn't be bothered. If people got too close, like Nicholas, they killed them. I don't know if that's true, but that's the impression I'm getting."

Me and Al were stunned. What did those kids have to do with us? Why did they have to bother us? We would of left them alone, it's them who won't leave us alone. I remembered the part Mustang mentioned about the boy having to be close by. I then remembered that night.

"Thats it! There was a young boy outside of our house. I saw him and he ran away. After that Al was normal. We saw him again when we were on the train." "Well Ed, there's no ghost. Just dangerous children playing a game with you." Mustang said. Al started crying, causing everyone to be silent.

"T-those kids, they're probably hurting so much. Being robbed of their childhood and only having each other to depend on. Not being normal, being different from everyone else. I know how that feels, you do too Ed. Right now what they're doing is wrong, but were they ever taught any better? Since they were in an orphanage they didn't have a mom or a dad. Then they were taken by the state where all they learn is to kill. I think it's our job to help them. If we had someone there for us, we might of never done the transmutation." He sobbed.

"Are you insane Al? Those "kids" are monsters! They're ruining our lives!" I shouted angrily. "That may be true but they deserve a chance! They just want a chance to live, that's all. People kept bothering them so they put on an act pretending to be ghost. And it was a guy from the military who was sent there they must of thought they would have to go back. Mustang said the boy has to be nearby to control or talk to me. When we were at the hotel he must have been somewhere outside. For now we lost him but I think we should go look for him then find his sister. All they need is a chance. Please Ed, we have to help them!"

"I still can't believe all this time we were being messed with by two kids. The sister who was pretending to be you said there were two victims before you. This little game of theirs is dangerous and deceiving. We can't let it go on!" I explained. "And we won't! If we help them they might stop and get on a different path." He said.

"You're naive, Al! That's not gonna happen." "But...would it really hurt to try?" He asked. "Of course it would!" "Why?" He asked. I thought for a second on what to say.

"Because they could kill us!" "Not if we help them." He pointed out. He was not gonna drop this. It was incredible. After all the pain they caused him he wanted to help them. I sighed. "Fine! If it doesn't work though we'll have to think of a way to deal with them." I said.

"if they can't change, you'll have to kill them." Mustang said casually. Everyone looked at him wide eyed. "It's the unavoidable fact. If they're not willing to change then we have no other choice. Their existence is a threat, and I can't let this go on. You have three days to try to locate them. Any longer and I'll send a search party of my own. I know that would risk their lives, but if you're willing to risk your own they should have no problem. And if they do they're not fit for the military." He stated bluntly.

"Thank you." We all said. Leaving the building I noticed Winry didn't say anything. "Something wrong, Winry?" I asked. "I don't like this. That boy made Al almost kill you. Can we really help them?" She asked."I don't know, I really don't. Like Mustang said we're probably gonna have to kill them. I hope it doesn't come down to that." I replied.

"We have three days. I'll let you know the second I start hearing him. Then we will know if he's around." Al said. "Well we may-" "He's here!" Al interrupted. "What? What do you mean?" I asked. "He just told me that I can't run away."

"Well we weren't planning to. In fact we were planning on running towards him." I said. I scanned through the crowds looking for the boy. It was quick, but I caught a glimpse of silver hair. "Al, stay here with Winry. I'll go after him!" I shouted, and then took off into the crowds. I was not letting him go any farther. This time he wouldn't get the chance to run away.

**Plot twist! :D I won't blame you if you're confused. XD Dang this chapter is long, 4,000+ words. I hope you enjoyed! Please leave a review or favorite or follow because they're very much appreciated. Cya Sunday! **


	14. Chapter 13

**It's Sunday, That means a new chapter! :D It also means that since it's the weekend you can wear everything you can't wear at school! (stupid dress code) I'm wearing my fma t-shirt and pocket watch and my brother asked why I was wearing it. I said to him because I can! :P Now enough babbling and onto the chapter! ****P.s. I didn't have much time to edit sorry. **

**Disclaimer: I wouldn't be writing fanfics if I owned fma I'd be writing volumes. **

** Eds pov**

I ran through the crowds hastily, having to apologize more than once for bumping into people. Central just had to be so busy today. As I stalked him it seemed like he was unaware of my presence. That, or he had something up his sleeve. He stopped at a small stand and purchased apples before turning into an alleyway.

'Perfect! I can corner him!' I thought, triumphantly. I ran after him. He walked to the back of the alley where a door was. He reached into his pockets and grabbed a set of keys. Before he put it in the slot I grabbed him by his jackets hood.

"Ha! I've got you now you little-" I couldn't finish before my hand unwillingly released him. 'Crap. I should of thought this through.' I thought. Suddenly, I started walking backwards. I tried with all my might to stop it but it didn't work. When I was almost out of the alleyway I heard him talking to me.

"You're lucky that I'm not taking over your mind. Go away, I don't have time to deal with you today." He told me. "Damn you!" I shouted. Soon I was out of the alleyway and still walking backwards. People gave me weird looks, and I tried my best to make it seem natural. Soon I was back to where I started. Al and Winry stared at me.

"Brother? What are you doing?" Al asked. "I'm not doing this, help me!" I shouted. They ran towards me and grabbed both of my arms. My legs wouldn't stop moving. "You approached him head on didn't you?" Winry asked. I sighed and nodded.

"Honestly brother I would of thought you would think it through." Al sighed. Finally, my legs stopped moving. "The little bastard. How are we supposed to catch him when he's got a card like that!?" I asked. "I don't know brother." Al said. I sighed.

"Well no way am I going to kill him. He's terrible, but there must be some other way. There has to be!" I told them. "I don't know. Maybe if we knew where they were hiding out, we could catch them or something." Al said. "I think I know where he's staying. We could wear costumes and sneak in and-"

"Why don't you just capture the girl first? He's gonna want to find her, and maybe you can use her to get answers." Winry interrupted. Me and Al stared at her. "That's not a bad idea. We won't actually harm her though, right?" Al asked. "Of course not Al." I said.

"Still, wouldn't he just control us to get her back?" Al asked. Me and Winry sighed. "This is too frustrating! His sister can only change how things look right? Then she can't control us. Lets just take her and get answers." Winry said. "He knows we're at the hotel. Where are we gonna hide with her long enough to get answers?" I asked.

"What if we go to rush valley?" Winry asked. "Leave central?" Al asked. "Any place in central he's bound to find us." She reasoned. "Kidnapping doesn't sit right with me." I told them. "Same here brother." Al said.

"I know guys, but this is our only option. Maybe she knows his weakness, or how to stop him from controlling Al. She may be nice, girls are much more reasonable than boys." Winry said. Me and Al burst out into laughter, earning a slap on the face from Winry.

"What's so funny!? It's true and you know it!" She shouted. Me and Al nodded our heads quickly, saying how right she was. We went back to the hotel and discussed the details of the plan. If his sister was at that alley place too, I could quietly break in and search for her. Once I found her I was supposed to grab her and run to the train station. There, we'd get on the late train to rush valley. we would then stay at Winrys friend place.

"I can't believe I have to kidnap a girl." I mumbled. "I hate this too, brother. We will be very nice to her, and remind her she's in no harm. We will do that, won't we?" Al asked. "Of course." Winry said. "Hey, why are you so okay with this?" I asked Winry.

"Because I want all of this to end." She answered. We all nodded in agreement. Later we packed up and checked out. I untied Al since we were leaving away from the one controlling him. "This is all riding on if they're still in that place, isn't it?" I asked.

"Yep. Let's hope they're still there." Winry said. They headed to the train station and I retraced my steps to the alleyway. 'I can't believe I'm doing this.' I thought. Once I reached the alleyway I soon found the door. I looked up and saw a window. I climbed the building slowly and up to the window. I looked through it and as luck would have it, there was a small girl sleeping.

'I wonder why they didn't leave this place. Didn't he expect me to come back?' I wondered. Using my automail leg I lifted the window open slowly and silently. I slipped into the room as quietly as possible. I looked around, making sure the boy wasn't anywhere in the room. I walked to the bed and saw her. She had silver hair like her brother and her eyes were closed making her eye color unknown.

'Mom, forgive me for what I'm about to do.' With that, I picked the girl up and jumped out the window with her. It surprised me that she didn't wake up yet. I made it all the way to the train station and she still didn't wake up. Winry and Al were as surprised as I was that it was that easy. We got on the train, which thankfully didn't have any other passengers. We sat her down in a seat and let her sleep. I handed Al my jacket and he put it over her. All of us stayed awake, just in case she woke up. We were halfway there when there was movement coming from the girl.

She slowly opened her eyes, revealing the color brown. We were all frozen still. She sat up and looked around, before jumping up from her seat. "You!" She said, pointing to me. She turned to Al and pointed at him. "And you! What am I doing here? Where's my brother?" She asked.

"Um, we don't mean any harm! We just want to reason with you guys!" Al tried to explain. "You kidnapped me, didn't you? What's wrong with you have you no decency? What is this world coming to? I'm going back to my brother." She said. Suddenly the train was gone and we were in a field of flowers.

"What is this?" Al asked."I don't like this..." Winry said. "Stay calm. This is apart of her ability. We have to somehow figure our way past this." I explained. We ran through the field looking everywhere. It felt like years and there was still no way out.

"We're doomed!" Winry said. "Don't say that! There's gotta be a way out of here! Search again!" I said. We ran around more and there was still no exit. We searched every inch of the field but it was pointless. It felt like years passed and we were going to be trapped forever. We were worn out from searching for so long. We laid down on the flowers. We had no strength left. It felt like we were gonna die there.

"Brother, how long have we been here?" Al asked. "I don't know, six years probably." I replied. "I don't want to die here." Al said, tears coming to his eyes. "This is cruel." Winry said.

"It can't end like this." I whispered. My eyelids started feeling heavy. I knew that if I didn't stay awake it would be the end. I stared at the flowers in front of me. After studying the flowers a bit more, I noticed one was different. It was a little taller than the others, but almost impossible to notice unless you were on the ground. I reached out and grabbed it. Out of nowhere, the field vanished. We were back on the train, and instead of a flower I was holding the girls arm.

It took a minute for us to adjust to what happened. "What? Impossible! How did you do that?" She asked me, struggling against my grasp. "Give it up! You're not escaping until you tell us what we want to know." I said. "You can't keep me here!" She shouted. In seconds, we were at a different place. It was a street full of people. It was raining and cold.

"Not again!" Winry shouted. "Look for anything that seems out of place! It's how we got out last time." I said. We ran up the streets, slipping more than once in the puddles. Finally I noticed that everyone was wearing trench coats. Everyone except one. I ran up to that person and grabbed them. Once again, it switched back to the train. I had my arm firmly on her shoulder.

"How did you do that?" The girl asked. "Go ahead do it again, each time I'll just capture you again." I said. I felt her shoulders start shaking. I then realized she was crying."I-it's not fair. I just want to be normal! I'm sorry that we're causing you and your brother grief. My b-brother said that you were g-gonna take us back. He said you were looking into what happened to the soldier we killed so you could take us. W-we wanted you to die so you couldn't take us back." She sobbed. I was taken back when she turned around, grabbed onto me and cried.

"P-please don't take us back! I don't want to, I don't want to be controlled! I just want to live with my brother. We're stuck in this never aging body. Do you know what it's like to be so different? So different that as other people age and live happily you're stuck being a kid forever? It makes me scared, so scared that one day we'll be the only ones left on the planet." She cried. I got on my knees and wrapped my arms around her. I patted her hair to try to calm her down. Al came over and put a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know what that would be like. I can only imagine how scary that would be." I said. "I have an idea what it's like to be different. There was a time when I wasn't exactly human either. I was just a soul trapped to a suit of armor. I couldn't feel, couldn't sleep, I couldn't eat. My brother Ed here never gave up. He found out a way to restore me back to my body and now I can live. Maybe there's a way you can be normal again too." Al comforted. She pushed me away and ran into Als arms.

"Y-you think so? Is there really a way to get us back to normal?" She asked. "Sorry, but I don't know for sure. You can try though. Don't give up yet. People always believed that I would get my body back. Thanks to them, and especially thanks to my brother for not giving up, I am where I am today." He said. I felt tears coming to my own eyes, but held them back. Winry approached the girl with teary eyes.

"It's true, they never gave up. We grew up childhood friends. After what happened Ed joined the military and Al went with him. I waited at my home, and would always cherish the times they returned. When they finally came back with Al back in his body it was the happiest moment for all of us. I think you and your brother should stop killing people and instead focus on a way to go back to normal." She said. The girl finally stopped crying and stood up.

"You guys are such good people. Even after all we've done, you don't hate us?" She asked. We all shook our heads. "There are no hard feelings." Al said. She ran to him and gave him another hug. "Thank you so much. I promise that once my brother finds me I'll get him to stop this. It'll be hard though, he's so hot-headed and stubborn." She said. Al laughed.

"I know what it's like to have a brother like that." Al said, glancing at me. We all laughed and then got back into our seats. I then realized we didn't know her name. "Hey sweetie, what's your name?" Winry asked. Again she beat me to it. "Oh, I'm sorry. My name is Gisela."

**Gisela joins the party! Sorry, gaming reference there. Poor Ed always having to be the one doing the dirty work. Leave a review/favorite/follow if you enjoyed. Cya! **


	15. Chapter 14

**Important please read: Due to my busy school schedule I can no longer guarantee uploads on certain days. However I can promise that there will be at least one update each week, I just don't know when. Now onto the story!**

**Disclaimer: Still don't own it.  
**

**Eds pov **

It was early in the morning when we arrived in rush valley. I noticed Gisela was very clingy to Al as we got off. Al didn't mind though. I was really happy that we got the girl on our side. Then, I remembered something.

_Flashback _

_ "Hey, I'm staying at the motel down the street. Room 23. Let me know when something happens."_

_ End of flashback. _

'Peters gonna kill me.' I thought. I looked and saw Gisela didn't let go of Als arm. 'First animals, now kids. What doesn't love Al?' I asked myself. Winry squealed in delight and went strolling around looking at the shops. Even this early people were already up and about.

"What's with all these people? They have metal arms and legs. They're scary." Gisela said, leaning on Al. "Scary, huh?" I muttered under my breath. Al heard me and laughed nervously. "Don't worry, they're nothing to fear." He reassured.

"Nothing to fear, huh? The first time I got here they stripped my clothes off!" I shouted. Gisela shivered and buried her face in Als side. Al gave me a death glare and I cowered away.

"You're not helping." He said in an unusually deep tone, causing shivers to rush up my spine. "Heheheh. Sorry." I apologized. Gizela looked confused. "Why would they take your clothes off? Were they trying to $%#^ you?" Als jaw dropped, as well as mine. She looked so innocent, and she said that so casually! We froze there, not sure of what to say. Al was the first to say something.

"N-no. They were, um, trying to get a look at E-Eds automail..." Al stuttered. "Automail? Is that the metal stuff? Ed doesn't have any." She said. I sighed and looked around making sure no one was watching. I rolled up my pants to reveal my metal leg.

"What happened?" She asked. "I lost it the same time Al lost his body back then. I lost my right arm too, but I regained it." I explained."What did you do guys do to loose so much?" She asked. I sighed before speaking. "We committed the ultimate taboo and had to pay the price." I said, not wanting to go into detail.

"Human transmutation?" She asked. I looked at her confused. "I heard about it from my brother. He used to want to be an alchemist and would tell me all about those things." She told us. "Well make sure he listens to all the rules of alchemy." I said. She nodded and continued walking. "We don't fit in, do we?" She asked. Al laughed and nodded.

"I suppose not. Ed covers his automail and we don't have any. Though we should be happy we don't." Al reasoned. She crossed her arms and looked around. On display was a shiny metal arm.

"Well, I still want to fit in." She said, taking off her jacket. She handed it to me and I watched curious as to what her plan was. I examined the jacket and noticed it was very old and patched up. I returned my attention to her, she was still looking at the arm. She stared at it for a minute and then changed her arm to look like it.

"Wow! How'd you do that?" Al asked. "I can just change just about anything easily." She said proudly. "Right, of course. For a second I forgot you could also change yourself." Al admitted. Just then the shopkeeper came out and stared at her. Then at the arm, then at her.

"Dammit! I thought my model was original!" He cursed, taking away the arm on display. "No wait sir! I can explain!" And just like that she vanished into the shop after him. "How is she gonna explain that?" Al asked me. "I don't know, but we cant let her tell him the truth!" With that I ran into the shop.

"And there was this experiment thing and then-" She told him before I covered her mouth. "Ignore her! She's got quite the creative imagination!" I said, slowly dragging Gisela out the store with me. The man laughed. "That's okay. Quite an interesting story there. She could be a novelist!" He said. "Yeah, she sure could! We have high hopes in her!" I laughed. Once we were at the door I made a run for it.

"What were you thinking? Do you tell your life story to every stranger you meet?" I asked. She shook her head. "No I don't! And how rude of you to cover my mouth like that! Have you no dignity?" She asked. "I saved you from telling him your secret!" I exclaimed. Some people looked at us weirdly, then carried on.

"Must you always shout? You'll draw unwanted attention." She whispered. "_I'm_ drawing unwanted attention? You-" "Al!" She shouted, interrupting what I was gonna say. She ran up to him and jump hug attacked him. "Your brother is mean! He covered my mouth and harshly pulled me out of a shop!" She told him.

"She's got it all wrong! I stopped her from telling the guy about her!" I explained. Al glared at me and I stopped talking. "I think that's enough from you." He said, glaring at me. "Why are you so protective of her? I'm your older brother you're supposed to be on my side!" I argued. Al completely ignored me."Winrys friend should be here any minute. Would you like to sit down and wait?" He asked her.

"Hey! Don't ignore me!" I pleaded. It was no use and they left me all alone. "What's his problem?' I asked myself. Before I could go looking around by myself, Gisela ran towards me. "My jacket! Where's my jacket?" She asked. I then realized I wasn't holding it.

"Oh. Uh, I'm sorry I think I accidentally dropped it somewhere. It was old anyways. How about we get you a new one? They sell really nice ones in central!" I suggested. She looked horrified and without warning kicked me to the ground.

"YOU IDIOT! I TOLD YOU TO HOLD IT! CAN YOUR MIND NOT COMPREHEND EVEN THE SIMPLEST OF REQUEST!?" She screamed, kicking me harder. People gathered around to watch a little girl beating up an adult male. She was much stronger than she looked. If I had my alchemy I could handle this immediately. I could transmute a hand to push her away. Now my only defense would be to hit her, and I wasn't gonna hit a little girl. Especially with all these people watching. Suddenly the kicking stopped. I looked up to see Al holding her arms back.

"Gisela! Beating up Ed is not acceptable!" He scolded. Giselas eyes glistened with tears. "H-he lost my jacket!" She sobbed. "I know brother didn't mean it. Please try to forgive him. We can search for it, I'm sure it's around here somewhere! Lets go look!" He grabbed her hand and went off to look.

'Sheesh. I knew girls liked clothes, but damn.' I thought, dusting off the sand off my clothes. "Ed? You were apart of the big commotion? I shouldn't be surprised." A voice said from behind. I turned around to see Winry. With her was a familiar girl. "Paninya?" I asked. She smiled.

"Long time no see!" She greeted. "Yeah, it certainly has been a while. How are you?" I asked. "Everything's just great! Dominics shop has gotten really noticed over the years. It's always busy." She said happily. "I'm glad to hear it. What about you? What are you doing?" I asked.

"Well I help him with the shop of course! I also help other people around town." Paninya said. "So no more stealing from unsuspecting state alchemist?" I joked. "Cut me some slack. That was the old me. I haven't stolen anything since your pocket watch." She said. She stared at me before commenting.

"What happened to you? You're not short anymore." "I was never short! Okay maybe a little, but definitely not anymore!" I said defensively. "You guys will be staying at my place. I've got my own house now! Follow me!" She said, walking away. "Sorry, I need to go find Al and Gisela." I told them. "I don't know who Gisela is, but I'll help you." Paninya said. I thanked her and we went to find them.

** Als pov**

We retraced our steps to the shop. Fortunately the owner had it with him. He said the "blonde guy" dropped it. We thanked him and left. "There, see? Everything is alright. I know Ed feels really bad right now. You should forgive him." I said. She held the jacket close to her chest. "Okay. I'll forgive him." "If you don't mind me asking, why is that jacket so important?" I asked. She reached into the pocket and pulled out a small stone. It was heart shaped and silver.

"While this jacket is important to me, since me and my brother have had them forever, I was more worried about this. My brother made this for me for my fifth birthday. Back when we were at the orphanage. He went near the lake and found this stone. He used alchemy to change the shape. When they were doing the experiments, they didn't let us keep any belongings. A very nice prisoner hid this and my jacket." She told me.

"I'm sorry for asking." I apologized. "It's okay I can tell you. After the experiment they stuck me back in my cell. I was right next to the old man and we talked a lot. He gave me back my jacket and stone. I didn't know where my brother was, they didn't tell me. He was my only companion. He told me what was going on and how it wasn't right. We were even planning a way to escape. Then...they killed him." She said sadly. I felt tears sting my own eyes. How cruel it was that all this happened. She held the stone close to her chest.

"Whenever I look at this stone I remember the happy times when I was a normal human. I also remember the old man. I'm so happy I have my brother. If it wasn't for him, I'd be all alone." She whispered sadly. I couldn't control myself and hugged her tightly.

"You don't have to be alone anymore. We're here for you and we're gonna find a way to make this right. When your brother catches up to us we'll help him too." I comforted.

"My brother doesn't listen to anyone but me. I'll have to tell him you're not bad people. Promise? Promise you won't leave us? Everyone we've met either left or died. Promise you won't?" She asked. I hugged her tighter.

"I promise." I released my grip and stood up. I saw Ed, Winry, and Paninya in the distance. "Hey guys! We're over here!" I called. They rushed towards us. I chatted with Paninya while Gisela apologized to Ed. We headed to Paninyas house. It was a lot messier than we expected, but we were grateful we had a place to stay.

"Okay I gotta go help at the shop. Make yourself at home!" She said. We thanked her and she left. First we all unpacked a bit then we sat down in the living room. "We don't have much time. Gisela, if you don't mind, we need to know if there's anything at all that can stop your brother." I explained.

"There isn't a way. Unless..." She trailed off. "Unless what?" I asked. "Unless I use my powers to put him in an illusionary place. Then you could talk to him while hes there and he wouldn't be able to control any of you. I'm not sure why, but it's worked before." She explained.

"You've had to do that before?" Ed asked. "Yeah. He wanted to "test his powers" by using it on an innocent child. I couldn't let that happen so I used my powers on him. Chances are I'm the only person on this planet that can stop his ability."

**Sorry to cut it off there and I'm also sorry this chapter is short. Darn you school D: Please leave a review if you enjoyed! **


	16. Chapter 15

**I'm sorry that this took so long to update! When you've got school and friend stuff going on you kind of don't have much time to write. *Sweatdrop* Also since it was taking so long I wanted it up as soon as possible so this isn't edited much. Onto the chapter!**

**Disclaimer: no. **

**Eds pov **

Nobody moved or said anything for what felt like hours. If what she was saying was true, then we would finally be ahead of the game. "What are the chances of him listening to us?" I asked.

"Not very high. I think, that if I can just talk to him he will be more understanding." She told us. After a little more talking we put together the near flawless plan. We sat around not sure what to do. Winry kept messing with Giselas fake automail for a while. When I looked up at the clock I saw it was already almost noon.

"Paninya should be home soon for her lunch break. Hey, why don't we make her lunch?" Winry suggested. "That's a great idea! That way we can show her how grateful we are!" Al chimed in. "I guess it wouldn't hurt. Just keep in mind that cooking isn't my specialty." I reminded them. "I know. All you can make is stew! How more useless can you get?" Winry teased.

"Well excuse me for not having time to take cooking classes when I was fighting for my life!" I retorted. We all laughed and headed to the small kitchen. Me and Al started looking for ingredients while Winry went to her bag and pulled out an apron and cookbook. She glanced up from her book to see Gisela still sitting on the living room couch.

"Something wrong?" Winry asked. Gisela shifted in her seat. She hung her head before speaking. "W-well I don't know how to make anything. I'd just get in the way." She said softly.

"It's okay I can teach you! And I'm sure you'll be more helpful than Ed." Winry said. I glared at her from a safe distance before returning to the task at hand. Gisela jumped up from the couch and slowly walked over. Winry did a great job at instructing her on what to do. When Gisela would mess up she'd encourage her. I could barely focus on making the side dish, stew, because I kept admiring Winrys mother-like nature towards Gisela. Al walked over and gently nudged me.

"Something got your attention, brother?" He asked, playfully. "S-shut up." I stuttered. I felt my face heating up. He laughed and went back to helping Winry and Gisela. Winry suddenly jumped up from her cooking place. "Oh no! There's no bread!" She shrieked.

"Don't worry, the meal will be just fine without it." Al reassured. I knew that it was pointless to tell her it was okay. When it came to automail and cooking she wanted every aspect to be perfect. "No it's not this is not acceptable! Gisela, lets go we're heading to the market!" Winry said, slipping on her shoes and taking off her apron.

"Do they even have a market? I've never seen one here." I said, scanning my memory. "Of course they do! Automail engineers need to eat like every other living human! Lets go Gisela!" Winry pulled Gisela out the door without giving Gisela enough time to put on her worn out shoes.

**Winrys pov**

The whole walk there Gisela seemed really quiet. I knew it was probably nothing, but that didn't stop me from asking. "Hey is everything okay?" I asked. For a moment there was no reply. Then she said something almost inaudible, but I caught it. "Need to eat like every other living human.'" She whispered. I was a little confused and not sure if I heard correctly."Huh? Could you say that again?" I asked, leaning in closer.

"That's what you said. That automail engineers need to eat like every other living human. Well I don't. I mean, I'm not human anymore. The experiments made it so we would never feel hungry or fatigue. The only reason me and my brother eat sometimes is because we want to feel a little normal. Though we were just fooling ourselves. I should of told you that before you started making extra food for me. I'm sorry." She apologized. I was a little confused. Did she think she was being a burden just by eating?

"Don't say that. You are more than welcome to eat with the rest of us. Also you're a beautiful young girl. You are just as human as anyone else on this planet." I told her. I noticed tears slide down her cheeks. I instantly felt guilty, hoping I didn't accidentally make things worse.

"Uh, I- Please don't cry! Uh..." I trailed off, looking for something, anything to say to make this better! She sniffled and wiped her tears away. "How can you say such things about me? I'm stuck in an eight year olds body for eternity. That's not human or normal at all!" She snapped back.

"Well being attached to a suit of armor isn't normal either but Al was always human. I'm not gonna look at you any different because of what state your body is in." After I said that the rest of the walk was silent. When we reached a place selling bread she finally talked.

"Y-you are such a good person. Ed and Al too. Even though I'm like this you treat me like a human. I never received this kind of treatment from anyone besides my brother. Not even when I was normal." She sobbed before coughing. I leaned down and patted her back.

"Hey don't get too worked up." I said. She pushed my hand away. "It doesn't matter anyways, nothing will happen to me. Just...thank you so much. For everything." She said before smiling up at me. "You're welcome. Now lets get the bread before Ed and Al start worrying." I said, extending my hand. She grabbed onto it and squeezed tightly, never letting go.

**Eds pov**

"Brother look what you did! I told you that the temperature was too high!" Al scolded, trying to save as much of the meatloaf as possible. "I didn't know! This wouldn't of happened if Winry was here! Where the hell are they anyways?" I asked. "Don't blame your mistake on their absence, brother. This happened because you didn't follow instructions." I had no response to that. As always he had a point.

"Fine, fine! I messed up, okay? You happy?" I asked, stirring the stew faster and harder than I normally would. "Brother don't stir like t-" He didn't get to finish what he was saying before my shirt got splashed with the burning hot stew. I ran around the kitchen repeating hothothot. Al sighed and picked up the apron Winry was previously wearing.

"Here, put this on." he handed the apron to me. I stared at it. I honestly didn't know why Winry packed it and took it with her but I knew I wasn't gonna wear it. "No way! Isn't this the new girly one she bought not too long ago? The edges have pink on it!" I protested.

"Fine. Burn all your shirts then." he said. Staring at it for a long time I finally slipped it on. I could tell Al was trying his hardest not to laugh. I was about to yell at him when the door opened.

"Hey guys! I'm off for lunch so I came to- Why are you wearing a pink apron Ed? What are you guys doing?" Paninya asked when she walked into the kitchen. I sighed before speaking. "...Burning food and failing at keeping my dignity."

_Later_

"Honestly, we can't leave you here alone for a second! You're lucky we came back before you messed everything else up!" Winry commented. Thanks to Winry and Gisela coming home right after Paninya entered we were able to save lunch.

"Men are idiots, right Gisela? Right Paninya?" Winry asked. The two said yep in union. Al and I laughed nervously while sweating. After lunch Paninya packed some leftovers and said she'd be working through dinner. The rest of the day we went looking around and relaxing. The sun started setting and we knew we would have to go back to Paninyas house soon.

"Should I put my arm back to normal now?" Gisela asked. I shook my head. "No, you have to leave it like that until we leave. We don't want anyone questioning you." I answered. Al and Winry nodded in agreement. "It's so cool how you did that! You got the craftsmanship and design down perfectly! Oh please let me look at it again!" Winry begged.

"No you looked at it enough earlier. If you keep bugging me I will change it back to normal." Winry sighed and gave up on asking. She then spotted someone with interesting automail and took off running. "Is she always like that?" Gisela asked.

"Yep. It's not unusual considering every other automail mechanic is the same way. My clothes remember?" I asked. "Let it go broth-agh!" Al suddenly cried out in pain. I rushed to his side. "Al! Are you alright?" I asked, panicking. I looked around for any injuries but found none. "...Give her back." Al whispered almost inaudible. "What was that?" I asked.

"I SAID GIVE HER BACK!" Al shouted. He transmuted a nearby automail display into two swords. People screamed and took cover. He tried to stab me on the face but I ducked just in time. I looked for anything I could use for defense. There was nothing useful. I really missed my alchemy sometimes.

"Gisela! Look around for your brother! He's around here somewhere!" I ordered. She nodded and ran around searching high and low. "Who are you to tell her what to do!? Die like the filth you are!" I was ready for the next attack when Al dropped to the floor. I relaxed knowing that Gisela was able to find her brother. Suddenly, I found myself reaching for one of the swords. I tried to stop myself but it didn't work. "What's going on?" I asked myself. Before I knew it I had picked up the weapon and it all went black.

**Als pov**

When I opened my eyes I realized I was on the ground. Groggily I sat up. I blinked a bit until my proper vision returned. People were looking at me while hiding. I noticed everyone was terrified. What was going on? I couldn't remember what happened to me. I wondered if me and brother ticked someone off and got in a fight. I shook my head knowing that couldn't be it. I look to my right and gasped. Ed was there, holding a sword to his neck.

"BROTHER! What are you..." I trailed off remembering what happened. Giselas brother took control of me. "Damn I knew this would happen! All you do is fight me! That's why I never took control of you before. My patience is running low now. Stubborn bastard I'm gonna kill you!" Ed shouted...at himself? I gasped when I realized what happened. Instead of me, Giselas brother was now going for Ed? I noticed he was having a much harder time controlling Ed. Finally as he was about to cut Eds neck I screamed and grabbed his arm.

"NO stop it! Leave brother alone I won't let you hurt him!" I yelled, trying to pull the sword away. "You guys kidnapped my little sister! How dare you, how dare you!" He shouted. Ed pulled the sword away from his neck and started fighting me. I picked up the other sword and avoided every attack. He tried to cut off my ear but instead cut off a few strands of my hair. I ducked and tried to stop him without hurting Ed.

"Idiot! You can't keep trying to avoid harming him! This is why you loose!" Before I could react he stabbed me in the shoulder. I fell to the floor grabbing my shoulder. I heard Winry shouting at us and soon was by my side. She started checking my wound immediately. I looked up and was shocked to see tears coming out of Eds eyes.

"S...orry..." He apologized in a raspy voice. All at once the sword was brought down on his neck. I sat in absolute horror as Ed fell to the ground. Winrys eyes widened as she crawled to his side. "BROTHER! Winry what do we do?" I asked, panicking. She examined his neck and sighed.

"He will be fine. The blade didn't go deep enough to cause death. Still we have to treat him. Is there a doctor anywhere?" She asked the crowd of people watching in fear. An old man raised his hand and brought over a medical kit. He checked Eds pulse and bandaged his neck wound.

"He will survive but he must be careful for now on. I'm not sure what just happened over here but I've learned that some stuff just isn't my business." With that the old man walked away. I waited expecting something else to happen but nothing did. Once people figured out it was safe they got out of their hiding places. I sighed in relief knowing Gisela must of stopped her brother.

**Giselas pov**

I was able to track him down just in time. When I located him I took him into the field of flowers illusion. "What are you doing? Let me out!" My brother shouted angry. He paced back and forth searching for an exit but we both knew that was pointless. I gathered my courage to confront him. "Carsten you have to stop this! Leave those people alone they never meant any harm!" Fear kicked in when he looked at me with angry eyes. I never wanted to make my older brother angry, but he had to listen to me.

"Are you kidding? They kidnapped you! How could I ever let them get away with that?" He asked. I shook my head and tried to speak but no words came out of me. Older brother had a point, but they aren't bad people. I had to find the strength to get him to listen to me. I was always easily manipulated by him. This time I wouldn't be a baby and would stand up for what I believe was right!

"They only did it to get answers to what we were doing! They would of never done that if it wasn't for us bothering them in the first place! You said when they came into the house that they worked for the military. That's what you said, that they were gonna take us back! It was all a lie, they never wanted to do that!" I explained the best I could.

"They're lying to you! They want you to trust them! We can't let them live! Stop being stubborn and realize what they're doing!" Carsten yelled. Must my big brother always be like this?

"That's not true! They don't work for the military! I know they don't!" I defended them. Big brother started laughing. "W-whats so funny?" I asked, pouting and crossing my arms. "If they don't work for the military, then why did he try to make a phone call to the Fuhrer?" He asked. I was shocked, this was the first time I ever heard about that.

"What are you talking about?" I asked. "Back before they went to central. He tried calling the Fuhrer until I cut the line off. Then they went to central to talk to the military about us! They kidnapped you only to lure me out so that they could go back to central and turn you in!" Carsten explained. I couldn't believe what he was saying was true. It couldn't be!

"That's not true! It can't be! They're such nice people and even though I'm like this they treated me like I'm human! They even said there might be a way to get our bodies back to normal!" The moment I finished saying that I realized how stupid it was to think that. Carsten started laughing again.

"That's all a bunch of lies. I'm the only person on the planet who will ever care about you! And you're the only person who cares about me! The rest of the world is our enemy and they're constantly waiting to strike. We have to kill them before they kill us!" He told me. Tears escaped my eyes as I tried to believe in them. My brother was right, I knew that.

"We can't go back to central or Resembool and I'm pretty sure the entire military knows to look for us by now. We should escape the country. I hear Xing is a good place, lets go there. First, let me kill the rats. Let me out." "No." I snapped back sharply.

"What? Sis I said let me out!" He demanded, growing more and more angry. "Okay. I'll let you out and we can escape to Xing. On one condition." I told him. "What would that condition be?" He asked. "You don't kill them! I won't let you! Even if they are bad people lets just leave them alone now. Lets just go to Xing and forget about them. Do we have a deal?" I asked. He thought for a moment till he nodded.

"Fine, deal. Lets just go." I smiled and put off the illusion. I grabbed his hand and together we ran away. We would continue running until we found a paradise far away from their grasp.

**Eds pov**

When I woke up we were back in Paninyas house and I was in bed. When I felt a bandage around my neck I remembered everything in an instant. "You're awake!" Als happy voice echoed through my head. I turned to see him sitting in a chair by the bed. "What happened? Where's Gisela?" I asked. His eyes were quickly filled with sadness.

"Me and Winry went searching but we couldn't find her anywhere. We think they might of run off together." He said sadly. "Damn it! Why would she leave with him? She knows we're just trying to help her." I said. Al sighed and handed me a cup of tea before answering. "I'm not sure. We asked around and some people say they saw them boarding a train to Xing." Al explained.

"They plan to cross the desert? Alone?" I asked. "I think so. What should we do?" He asked. I thought for a minute. "Well since we failed the bastard Mustang is gonna want to find them. We both don't want that. If they plan to leave us alone then we should just leave them be. I don't want this to be the end, I really wanted to help them. It's not like there's much we can do now. Keep this information to ourselves." Al nodded in agreement. "Right. It's out of our hands now."

**Don't worry this is not the end. Please leave a review if you enjoyed! **


	17. Chapter 16

**Yay ****for an update! I usually update on weekends but I'm gonna be really busy this weekend so I ended up finishing the chapter already! Enjoy and please excuse my bad grammar XD **

**Eds pov**

The city air was even more suffocating than usual. All I could think about as I walked up the steps of headquarters was Gisela. Al and Winry followed behind me, not saying anything. I could tell we all felt remorse over what we couldn't do. Those kids were now out planning to cross a desert alone with just the two of them. If only we weren't so weak, then maybe, just maybe, we could of done something. "Brother, have you thought about what you're gonna tell Mustang?" Al asked, walking faster to keep up with my pace.

"I'll tell it as it is. It's not like I'm completely lying, just leaving out a few things." I pointed out. I noticed that Al didn't want to lie, but it was for their own good. As long as it was helping them he would have to be okay with it. I pushed passed the soldier blocking the door to get through. A few people looked our way but said nothing. I found Hawkeye walking around. I went up to her and asked where Mustang was. She said he was in a meeting and for us to wait in his office.

'Is he always gonna be at a meeting?' I asked myself. Unlike last time I didn't bother to barge in. I sat in the office and waited. Thirty minutes went by and not a word was passed between us. Finally, after what felt like freaking eternity, the bastard decided to show up. He glanced at us before sitting on his desk. He picked up some papers and began signing.

"Miss Rockbell, Alphonse, Ful- Ed, this is a surprise. I didn't expect to see all of you here. Ed did you decide to not crash my meeting this time? Or was it because we lowered the sign?" He asked. I shrugged off his comment and looked the other way. Today wasn't the time for getting annoyed at him. He watched me, just waiting for me to explode. When that never happened he sighed and returned to his papers.

"Go ahead and tell me about what happened." He ordered. I stood up and in detail told him how we got the girl, and then lost her. I said that we didn't know where they ran off but they were out of sight and no longer bothering us. His pen stopped moving when I began speaking, indicating that I had his full attention. I finished the report saying that we failed.

When we turned to leave he stopped us by saying "Is that all?" I turned and nodded. He seemed to be studying us as if in an attempt to figure us out."You should know that I don't believe you. First you wait patiently, then you don't react to a comment about your height. You're hiding something, and I want to know what it is." He ordered. That for one reason or another made me extremely angry. Before I could stop myself I exploded.

"What the hell? I'm not a damn dog of the military anymore, I don't have to tell you anything! You're lucky I've told you about this at all!" I shouted. I grabbed Winrys arm and stormed out. I heard Al saying a few apologies before exiting. "You shouldn't let your temper get the better of you brother." Al scolded.

"You shut up I don't care anymore!" I snapped at him. Al was taken back by this. His eyes were filled with sadness before he looked away. I wanted to apologize but I couldn't get the words out. Once again we walked in silence, rain started pouring down on us making it all the more depressing. When we passed by the motel Peter was staying in I told Winry and Al to head on to the train station. They nodded and left. I was about to go inside the motel when I heard someone shout "Hey, Ed!" No doubt about it, there was Peter running towards me.

"Good you've saved me the trouble of finding your room." I joked, not nearly as cheerful as I was pretending to me. "Any news on the house?" He asked. I sighed and motioned him to go inside the lobby. There I told him everything. He was as surprised as I was the first time I learned all about it. "So you're telling me this has all been orchestrated by a couple of kids?" He asked.

"Yeah, but since six years have passed they're actually teenagers." I explained. "That's still very young! Man, I can't believe this. Are you positive they're not gonna bother us anymore?" He asked. "Yep. Our guess is that by leaving to Xing it's to get far away from us and the military. Knowing Mustang he's gonna send a search party any day now only to find that they're nowhere to be found. I have to compliment their foresight, but I just wish that she didn't run off with him." I mumbled sadly.

"Well I guess that's the end then. I'm gonna pack up and return home to my wife." Peter stood up to go to his room. "Okay. We are going home too I'll see you at the station!" I waved to him as I walked away. I met up with Winry and Al at the station. Soon peter arrived luggage in hand. We all boarded the train and waved central goodbye. In a strange sense I was glad it was all over. Now we could focus on the wedding and help Al get ready for college. Yes, this was for the best. It would all go back to the way it was suppose to be. It's all for the best...

No. No matter how I looked at it, there was still so much we could of done. This wasn't for the best.

**1 month later (Giselas pov) **

"This is the third time we've gotten lost! We're never gonna get to Xing at this rate! How long has it been anyways?" I asked my brother. I was so annoyed with him at this point. Every time I tried to ask someone for help he would stop me! He needed to stop being so controlling, otherwise we were never gonna get out of the stupid desert!

"I'm doing the best I can! Its been thirty nights we're gonna get there eventually!" He yelled. I huffed and crossed my arms. "This has gone on long enough. The next time we encounter a living being I'm gonna ask for directions! And there's nothing you can do that will stop me! If we keep this up we'll be in this desert forever." I reasoned. He stopped walking to glare at me.

"And what would be wrong with that? We literally could stay in this desert forever. Nobody will ever bother us. Why are we heading to Xing anyways? We've reached paradise right here. A paradise where nobody will ever find us. We can live forever, just the two of us. Would you like that?" He asked. I shook my head fiercely. How could he suggest anything like that?

"No! I don't want that! I want to see other things, meet new people, live an amazing life! I love you dearly brother, but I can't live alone with just you anymore. It was fine for the first few years, but now I've realized how much more there is. When we get to Xing, lets start over. Lets not even use our powers anymore. We should just try to make friends. We don't need to always be hiding. Maybe in Amestris we had to but this is a new country, a new start. Please, when we get there, lets just try to find happiness. Please." I pleaded.

"You want us to live normally? Make friends? Okay, say we do have that happy life. And when they grow old and we don't? When they die and we're still here? When no matter how old we get we'll always be kids? If it was that easy we wouldn't be here right now. That dream is nothing more than a dream; a fantasy. What is so easy for other people is impossible for us! That's why we only have each other. I thought you understood that." He scolded. I couldn't bear this. He was right, which is why it hurt me.

"I-I could always make myself look older as time passes. I have that ability. I could of done it long ago too." I whispered, hoping he didn't hear me. Of course he did. "They will still die. And what about me? I can't do that. You only have control of surroundings and your own body. You don't have control over other peoples bodies. Would you be so cruel after everything we've been through to go off and leave me?." The words stung like poison ivy. I had no clue why he was suddenly being so accusing.

"T-That isn't what I mean! And if they die I'll figure out some way to die with them! Maybe I can improve my abilities and learn how to change your body too! You never know what can happen." He laughed almost maniacally at my statement. I took a few steps back. What was wrong with him?

"Sister dear, sister dear. How adorably naive you are. That can never happen. You will never have a family. You will never figure out a way to die. You will never be able to change other peoples appearances. Grow up. Who would love you anyways? You're a terrible person. You are always saying horrible things about abandoning your own brother. You have your head too high up in the clouds. You're an orphan with no money, no parents, nothing. Tell me, who would love that?" he asked. I scanned my brain for some sort of answer.

"I-I don't know, actually. M-Maybe a really nice-" "Nobody, that's who. Nobody except me." He said in a low tone, stepping closer to me. He grabbed onto my shoulders harshly, stopping me from backing up. "You'll always be my precious little sister. Even after all the crap you've said tonight, I'll still forgive you. However, my patience does run out. Don't do anything stupid I'll have to punish you." He claimed. Shivers ran up my spine. He was now completely insane. Once I got out of my shock induced state, I grabbed his hands and yanked them off my shoulders.

"You're insane Carsten! I don't know what has gotten into you, but you need to snap out of it!" I shouted, taking a giant jump back. "You little- Fine! Go on! Leave me and go on your own! When something bad happens don't blame me!" He warned. "Fine I will!" Without looking back, I ran off into the desert. My plan was to find someone who could help me get back to Amestris. Then after that I would find the nice people from before. I was dumb to leave in the first place. Idiot brother, he doesn't know anything!

A day passed, and I still hadn't found anyone. It's not surprising, it is the desert and all. It was late at night and I knew I had to stop searching for the day. I used the warm sand as a blanket and formed a tight packed sand pillow. I stared up at the stars, dreaming of happier times. I began humming a tune I've known for my whole life. It was from our moms old music box. It was one of the few items that was left with us.

I vaguely remembered her singing along with it. Carsten remembered it better. Through him I was able to know the lyrics. Before I knew it what was once humming turned into singing.

_Darling don't have any fear_

_ remember I hold you dear_

_ through the struggles and tears_

_ know that i'll always be right here_

_ nothing can stop me from watching over you..._

I stopped singing when I felt tears on my cheeks. I wiped away the tears and rolled over. "You big liar mom. You and dad both died on us. We've suffered so much because of that. And now, even brother isn't here for me. Damn you mom, damn you dad." I sobbed. Soon I was able to cry myself to sleep.

**The next ****evening ****in central ****(Eds pov) **

Damn Al, did you really have to buy the heaviest furniture there?" I asked, placing the bookshelf down in the corner. It's been a long time since we last saw Gisela. We were moving on the best we could, but it still bothered me. It was now fall and that means Als college will be starting up soon. We were able to find him an apartment, thankfully. Al is so picky when it comes to homes and furniture.

"Sorry brother. I appreciate the help, but could you move that bookshelf just a little to the left?" He asked. I sighed and pushed it to the left. This was starting to kill me. "Perfect! Okay now can you go get the couch?" He demanded more than asked. I knew I didn't really have a choice in the matter, but I could try.

"And why can't you get it?" I asked. He pointed to the stack of boxes full of decorations and his clothes. Before I could protest any further he looked up at me with..._that look._ Every time he looked at me _that_ way I couldn't refuse anything. Because of _that look_ I'm destined to be his slave forever. Oh and also Winrys slave too, but not for the same reasons. If I refuse to do something for Al I feel guilty. If I refuse to do something for Winry I get a concussion.

I ran to get the couch faster than you could say slave. I carried it through the door and into the small sitting room next to the table. I panted, extremely tired from just carrying in a ten ton couch. Al looked up from decorating to look at me. "Sorry brother. I don't mean for this to be difficult on you. I'm really sorry." He pouted. God damn it now I know he's just messing with me now! I know he is! Don't do it Ed don't you dare-

"I suppose it would be far too hard of a task to ask you to get the bed. I've burdened you enough." His eyes filled with sadness as he hung his head low. Damn it all I wasn't even in control anymore! All my energy suddenly came back to me and I ran out the door. I grabbed the bed from the truck and towed it inside. I didn't stop moving until it was in the corner of his bedroom. Thankfully that was the last of it. I went out and waved the truck driver goodbye. I could tell he was laughing as he drove away.

I sat down on the couch and kicked off my shoes. I looked at Al who was marveling at everything. I knew I got manipulated. If there was an award for the biggest sucker on the planet when it comes to their little brother it would be me. Al didn't even have to try all he had to do was be himself.

"It looks amazing! Thank you so much brother!" He thanked me. Yep, all the pain, sweat and tears were always worth it to see him happy. Al ran to the kitchen to make dinner. "Is Winry still out with Hawkeye?" Al asked. Earlier that day, Hawkeye and Winry decided to go shopping together. It was surprising to all of us. I never pictured Hawkeye as the type to want to go shopping. Ever since the bastard proposed to her two days ago she has been a completely different person. It was...scary.

"Hey Al am I the only one who finds Hawkeyes behavior lately scary?" I asked. Al laughed. "She's just happy brother. I'm sure she'll go back to the way she was soon." Al said. I hoped he was right. "Hey do you need some help making dinner?" I asked. "No thanks. Remember the last time you tried to cook? If it weren't for Winry and Gisela-" He cut himself off, most likely because my face was giving away my emotions.

"I mean, no it's okay I've got it." He finished. It was an awkward silence until we heard a knock. I opened the door to see Winry. "Hey I'm back! Wow, this place looks a lot less empty now!" She noticed, stepping inside. "Yep, all in a days work." I said, leaning against the counter trying to be cool. I failed miserably when I went sliding on the tile and into the wall. 'Damn it. I should of kept my shoes on.' I thought. Al and Winry were desperately trying hard not to laugh.

"Uh, anyways, dinner will be done soon!" Al said. Winry sprung into action and began helping him. Through the entire meal she talked about her shopping trip and "how fun Hawkeye was." It was downright terrifying now. After the meal me and Winry packed up for the train tomorrow. Al was gonna miss us but he promised he would visit on holidays. That night I wondered how Al would do in college. I wished that I could be there with him, but he's an adult now. It's time for him to find his own path in life. If he ever needs help he knows where to find us.

**The next morning in the desert (Giselas pov)**

I was awoken by the sound of horses. When I opened my eyes there was a man and a brown horse. The man had short black hair and squinted eyes. I figured that he was Xingese.

"Do you need help?" He asked. Realizing I was lying in sand, I sprung to my feet. "Yes! Can you help me get to Amestris? Me and my brother got in a fight and now I'm lost and have no clue where to go!" I explained. "Sure, I'm heading there right now. Hop on." He gestured to the padding on the horse. I thanked him a million times before climbing on.

He kicked the horses sides and soon we were moving. It was a whole new experience for me. I loved every minute of it, it was so fun! "So what's your name and how old are you?" He asked. "My name is Gisela. I'm fourteen- I mean eight years old." I replied. "Fourteen or eight which is it?" He asked. I hesitated to answer.

"I'm eight." I finally said. "You're a long way from Amestris. Don't worry, I'll get you there." He told me. I thanked him and continued enjoying the ride. Once I got used to the feeling of riding a horse, I noticed that we were heading upwards not down.

"Hey, aren't we going the wrong way?" I asked. I heard him laugh. "Silly of course not. There's a secret short cut to Amestris that only I know about. It may not be the usual way, but it will get us to Amestris." He told me. "Oh, okay.!"

**Carstens pov**

I watched from a distance as Gisela got on the horse with a stranger. Something I noticed was that he was heading the wrong direction. Another thing I noticed was he kept looking at her funny, as if he had something up his sleeve."What's this bastard planning?" I asked myself. When they started moving I ran after them secretly. I was too far behind to control anyone but when they stopped that's when I would make my move. Whatever this guy had in mind, it wasn't anything good.

**Carsten,Carsten,Carsten, you have issues.**** And no this isn't incest he's just very over-protective/controlling. Please leave a review and I'll love you forever. :3 I just remembered that it's 9/11. To anyone who lost someone on this day 12 years ago I'm sorry. 3:  
**


	18. Chapter 17

**I'm alive! I'm so sorry it has taken me this long to update! ^^; On top of school and drama class I've been using most of my free time working with another author on a story. We haven't published it on here yet but we plan to. If you're still reading this story, you receive millions of cookies! From now on I promise to get an update up once a week unless an emergency stops me. Now enough of me babbling and onto deh story! **

**Giselas ****pov **

As we rode on I couldn't help but pet the horse. Its hair was soft yet strong. It was something I never felt before! "Hey, what's the horses name?" I asked the man. He glanced over his shoulder to look at me before picking up the pace. "It doesn't have a name." He answered. Poor horse, it deserved a name!

"Can I name it then?" He merely shrugged and nodded. I thought long and hard about it. I wanted this horse to have the best name in the world! "How about Armin?" I asked him."Name it whatever you want, I really don't care. All this horse is good for is traveling. They were brought in the world to serve us, nothing more." He stated coldly. I shook my head at that statement.

"That's not true! Animals have feelings too! Right Armin?" I asked, not expecting a reply. I laughed when he neighed. "This is a male horse, right?" I asked, hoping I wouldn't have to change the name. "Yes it is. Can you be quiet now? You're being distracting.." I mumbled an apology and remained silent. After a few more minutes I saw a small house in the distance.

"Yay we made it to Amestris! No wait, there's only one house. If we were reaching the border of Amestris there would be lots of soldiers and houses. Where are you taking me?" I asked, growing nervous. When he didn't reply that was it. I couldn't trust him if he wasn't going to answer me. I swung my legs to the side prepared to jump off when he made the horse go incredibly fast. Terrified I sat back normally hanging on for dear life.

"You're cruel! What are you planning? I won't let you do this!" I tried to think of a quick plan. I could always use my power. If I did that I would be able to escape! Then again I was curious to what wasin that house. Curiosity killed that cat, or in this case me. We reached the run down place faster than expected. He pushed me harshly through the door. Inside there were three other men. They wore dirty clothes and smelled as if they had been drinking for days.

It all clicked into place. I wasn't confused anymore. Around the border of Xing, there is said to be this illegal business where they sell people for money. Mostly kids to either work as slaves or... other things. "Well look here, a pretty Amestrian girl! She's a beaut, I've never seen that hair color before!" One of the men said, examining me closely.

"Catch of the year that's for sure! How did you manage to get her here?" A different man asked. "I found her laying in the desert! This is what you get for being naive kid. Next time don't trust strangers." He laughed. I glared at him with as much hate as I could muster. They all laughed at me, saying small insults about me "pretending to be tough". One of the men grabbed me and pushed me into a room in the back. I saw a fancy pink dress with purple lace lying on a bed.

"Change into that, will you? Don't even think about running away." He laughed before closing the door. I stared at the dress for a long time. I had enough of this. They were going to pay for talking down to me! I was not going to wear a dress given by them! I stepped out of the room in my normal clothes. They were confused as to why I still wasn't dressed. "Why aren't you wearing it?"

"Hate to break it to you, but I can't stay here." I told them. They all laughed. "Hate to break it to _you_, but you aren't leaving." They laughed. "You are all pitiful. Fallen dreams, nothing to live for, so you spend your life like this. Filthy pigs." They looked visibly angry. Instead of laughing they clenched their fist.

"You've messed with the wrong girl this time. I'm on an entirely different level than all of humanity. If you want me to show you, I can." When I finished saying that, I demonstrated what I meant. Instead of something peaceful, I trapped them in an illusion similar to the flames of hell. They screamed and searched for a way out. "Goodbye. It'll wear off in a few hours. In the meantime have fun in hell." I laughed. I was about to open the door when it flew open. Carsten barged in and before I could say anything, he started to make the men choke themselves to death.

"Carsten? What are you doing here? No, stop! I've got it all under control!" I screamed. I didn't need his help, and filthy as they are they still didn't need to die! "Bastards! How dare you kidnap my sister! I'll send you straight down to the depths of hell!" He yelled. "I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP! I was handling it until you barged in! Leave them alone, lets just go! They're not worth our time!" Two men were already down. I wasn't sure if I was imagining but it seemed like Carsten was struggling.

"Are you okay?" I asked, noticing him concentrating real hard but the grips on their neck kept loosening. "Damn you!" He shouted. Finally, the grip tightened and they were killed. "That wasn't necessary!" I shouted. "Yes it was! This is why we can't trust anyone else! Lets go." He said, grabbing my hand and pulling me away. I tried to get loose. "No, I'm going back to central!" I yelled. "We are on the border of Xing it would be a waste to turn away now!" He had a point. He also had a point about not being able to trust anyone.

I trusted that man to easily, and now, look what happened. There were only a few people that I knew I could trust, but they probably forgot about me already. I sighed and gave in. I followed him upwards. If we kept walking straight soon we would see houses. I wondered what we would do once there. Would we stay hidden or pretend to be normal? I decided I would just leave it up to Carsten. By evening we had reached Xing. There were other travelers on horses trying to get in past a few guards.

"Um, don't we need papers to get in?" I asked. "Nope, not when I can make them do whatever I want." He answered. I suppose it was a rather dumb question. We walked up to the guards. "Papers." They said. "We don't have any." I answered. "Well with no papers, turn around. We don't let strangers in that easily." One of the other men said. Carsten chuckled. "No, you will be letting us in." He told them. They were clearly confused until Carsten controlled them into walking away. We ran past them and into the small town. We thought we were fine until we heard a "Get back here!" We stared at each other. Carsten was too far from them and it wore off.

"Well time to run." Carsten said. We ran deeper into the town until we reached a small alleyway. We ran in and hid behind a few baskets. The guards passed us by. We sighed a sigh of relief. "That was close." I said. I leaned back when I felt something. I bolted up straight away. "What's wrong?" Carsten asked. "I thought I felt something." I said. He got up and pushed a few of the baskets out of the way. There was a man with his black hair up. He wore a red robe and a black and purple kimono underneath. "What the hell is this guy doing here?" Carsten asked. He lifted him up and slapped him across the face.

"Brother you don't slap people when they're passed out!" I scolded. He rolled his eyes. "Oh what are you, my mom?" He asked. We bickered back and forth until the man started to move. It was hardly any movement but we did hear him whisper "So...hungry." We stared at him unaware of what to do. "How can he be hungry? He looks very rich!" Carsten observed. No doubt about it by the clothing and various accessories this guy could be a king. I looked at the baskets. "Hey, aren't these food baskets?" I asked. I may not know much about Xing culture, but I know enough to get by. Carsten nodded.

"There are several. It's hard to believe anyone would go hungry after having this much food with them. What's a rich guy doing here anyways?" Carsten asked. I stared at the passed out man, unsure of what to do. "Should we get help?" I asked. "Yeah lets go get help and bring attention to us!" He said sarcastically. I shot him an ugly glare. "Well we can't just leave him here! He could by dying! What if he's someone important?" I asked. I wasn't getting anywhere with him. I tiptoed out of the alley and towards a food stand. The owner seemed too busy talking to a customer to notice me. I hastily grabbed two apples and ran back.

"What are you doing? Lets just go and leave him here to die!" Carsten said. I shook my head. "We can't do that!" I placed an apple in front of the man. He immediately jumped up and devoured it. I handed him the other one and he ate it just as quickly. He took a big sigh of relief and said something in Xingese. We gave him confused looks and he switched to our language. "Whew! I thought I was going to die! Thanks a bunch." He said cheerfully. "Well that was quite the energy turn around." Carsten mumbled. I nudged him and he stayed quiet. Big brothers are so hard to keep in line!

"I'm glad I could help. Are you lost or something?" I asked. Its funny how I'm the kid and he's the adult yet our roles seem reversed. "Nah, don't think so. My trustful bodyguard should be here any minute! I just need to light a signal fire." He said. "A signal fire?" I asked. The guy nodded. "Yep! You wouldn't happen to have any sticks would you?" He asked. "No, but I could help you look for some!" I answered. "No you aren't." Carsten said harshly. "Yes I am!" After more bickering I finally won. I left Carsten there to guard the guy. Once out of sight I changed into a Xingese woman to avoid suspicion.

'How am I going to find sticks in a place like this?' I asked myself. After a bit of searching someones house had a front garden. I didn't want to destroy their property but I had no choice. Nobody was home thankfully. I went over to one of their bushes and took off a few twigs and branches. I managed to get plenty without it being noticeable. If anything, I'd say I made the place better. Whoever owned that garden must be an amazing gardener by growing it in a place like this. I ran back to the alley making sure to change my appearance back to normal before entering. I dropped the sticks on the ground in front of them.

"Wow! I'm impressed, those are usually hard to find so close to the desert!" The man said happily. We used a few of the smaller ones to make a circle and the big ones facing upwards. After a few minutes of rubbing there was finally a spark. "We should go now before people notice us. This signal fire is like a target." Carsten whispered. For once I agreed with him. We were walking away when we heard a "swoosh" sound. We turned around to see a masked person in black. "As always your response time is always impressive!" The man said. The person bowed in front of him.

"My lord, please don't wander off like that." The person said. "It paid off this time though! Look!" He pointed to us. "I met these people and they saved my life!" Me and Carsten were sweating. What if word already got around that there were two Amestrians roaming around illegally? What if this bodyguard heard about it? We were expecting the worse when the guard approached us. I expected them to tie us up but instead she got on the ground and bowed down to us. "Thank you for saving the emperor. You have my deepest respect." The guard said said. We turned around and stared at the man. "You're...THE EMPEROR!?" We asked at the same time. The guy nodded. "Yep! I'm emperor Ling Yao, sorry for not introducing myself earlier." He said smiling.

"What's an emperor doing all the way out here?" Carsten asked, suspicious. "Just a royal get together! We have a house on the border and we all decided to meet there! You two will be coming with me as honored guest!" He told us. My jaw dropped. We were going to be honored guest at a royal meet up? Carsten tried to act like he didn't care but I could tell he too was shocked. "We are? Are you sure?" I asked. He nodded. "Of course! It's not everyday someone saves my life! This is the least I can do for you!" His bodyguard nodded in agreement. "Oh by the way, this is Lan Fan. She is my trusted bodyguard but also my right hand woman." He explained.

"I'm merely a servant to the emperor." She said. "Well lets get going to the reunion! Lead the way Lan fan!" She nodded and started walking away. We were frozen in place until Ling pushed us forward. "Keep up!" He told us. We followed them, exchanging awkward glances. "How did this happen?" I asked. Carsten shrugged. "Lets just go along with it. Having the emperor indebted to us should keep us out of jail." He reasoned. I nodded. However we got pulled into this, it should be interesting to see what happens next.


	19. Chapter 18

**Yay an update! I was so surprised to see people are still following this. Thanks a bunch! **

**Disclaimer: I'm still American **

**Giselas pov**

It was at least an hour of walking until we reached a giant Xingese styled house. It wasn't a house it was more like a palace! We had never seen a building so big before, it really took our breath away. "Well, what do you think? I know it's kinda small but make yourselves at home!" He told us. "You call this small?" I asked, walking towards the gate. There were so many flowers and lots of grass! If I thought that persons small garden back there was impressive, this was something else entirely.

"Yeah it's only a fraction of the size of our main palace." He told us. If this was only a fraction then...how impossibly huge was their main palace? Carsten could just stare at it. We were pushed through the doors. Ling was met with several servants rushing towards him. "Welcome emperor Ling! We have been waiting for you!" They all said. They looked down at us. "Who are these people?" One of the servants asked. "These are honored guest. They saved my life before I arrived here! Treat them with respect." He ordered. They nodded. "Dinner will be done in an hour. Your other guest, Princess Mei Chang has arrived. She is outside sitting in our garden." A female servant explained. "Perfect, escort these two over there too." He ordered. The lady nodded and escorted us to the back.

"Please make yourself comfortable." She said. She slid open one of the doors to reveal a gorgeous garden full of various flowers. We thanked her and she walked off. There was a girl who looked to be in her teens. She wore a pink kimono and had her black hair up in two buns that had braids hanging down. She was sitting on an elegant garden bench. She noticed us and waved. She said something in Xingese. "We don't speak Xingese." I explained. She switched her language. "Hello, who are you?" She asked. "Apparently honored guest." Carsten said, still not believing this entire thing. I thought it was a dream too. "Honored guest? You two must of done something big then." She said, smiling. "Not really, we just found the emperor passed out in an alley. Next thing we know, we're here." Carsten explained. She laughed. "Of course, why am I not surprised." She said sarcastically. She motioned us to sit next to her.

"You two are from Amestris, right?" She asked. We nodded. "What brings you all the way to Xing?" She asked us. Darn, she was the curious type. We weren't expecting anyone to ask us that, and we really didn't have an answer. Thankfully Carsten was always prepared. "We have a few relatives that live here." He told her. "Do they know you're here?" She asked. "No, but we arrived early anyways. They weren't expecting us for two days." He answered. Its a bit impressive how he improvised so quickly. I looked at the garden and recognized one of the flower species. "Are those hydrangea?" I asked. She nodded. "You like flowers too?" She asked. I didn't respond, instead I walked closer to the flowers. They were vibrant pink. "This is so cool! They're commonly white but they can be blue, pink, and purple. In the picture books I owned on flowers they never had a picture of the pink ones!" I marveled. She walked over and sat down on the ground next to me.

"I just started learning about flowers. I know a gardener who persuaded me to learn." She explained. "That's cool. I had two picture books full of flowers and a brief description on their meaning and what they look like. These mean love, gratitude, and enlightenment. It's said that people can get lost in wonder by looking at its petals, meaning lost in thoughts, which is supposed to help reach enlightenment." I told her. "You know way more about flowers than I do. I shall not be defeated. I'll catch up to you!" She said dramatically. We both started laughing and then continued to look at other flowers.

**Carstens pov**

I have no idea why girls find flowers so interesting. I took the opportunity given to me and while they were distracted slipped back inside. Ling caught me right away. "Hey!" He called cheerfully. I sighed. Emperor or not this guy is annoying. "Um, hi." I said half-heartedly. "What are you doing back inside?" He asked. "Flowers don't interest me." I explained. He laughed and put a hand on my shoulder. "I know at your age I was the same way, kid." Was he looking for a fight? "I'm not a kid!" I shouted angrily. This surprised him and he recoiled his hand. He then started laughing. Laughing! "Hahaha. I used to say the same things all the time too! Follow me there's a room where you can sit in and read." Her explained, motioning me to follow him. Reading, now there was something I like. I found a good book and sat down on a chair near the window. Soon it would be sunset. At the orphanage me and all the kids would sit and count down to when it set. Now, all that was pointless. I pushed the useless memories away and returned to my book on alkahestry.

**Als pov** **(no it's not the next day just different time zones) **

It was morning and I had just finished breakfast. That day was when I would have opening ceremonies at my college. While opening ceremonies was today it wasn't until next week when I would actually be taking classes. Ed and Winry were packed up and ready to go to the train station. "Want me to walk you guys there?" I asked. Ed shook his head. "Nah, we got it. Besides you should head on to your college. You have to give a speech, right? Since you were the top accepted." Ed said smiling. "It's really not that big of a deal." I said. Ed seemed very proud of me, but to me he would always be the smarter one. "Of course it's a big deal!" He exclaimed smiling. I rubbed the back of my head nervously. "I guess so." He playfully ruffled my hair like he used to. "I wish we could be there but this is the only train for the next three days. Good luck and we will see you on the holidays." With that they walked out the door. My journey of living as a normal adult began.

Brother wouldn't be here to help me, I'd do it on my own. I went to Xing without him all those years, but I still had people with me. This time it was completely up to me. I packed my books in my bag just in case and headed out the door. The college was a lot bigger than expected. People were roaming around outside and chatting. Guys wore the same uniform I had on. For guys it was a tan jacket with a blue tie and white shirt underneath along with tan pants. For girls it was a tan jacket white shirt and blue tie but a blue plaid long skirt. I matched alright, but I still felt out of place. I nervously walked up the big steps to the entrance. The building was tan like the uniforms and the big doors were brown. I opened them and saw more people talking along with teachers running about. To my left was a big door with a sign on it that said "Opening ceremonies." I opened it but saw that not many people were in there.

I shut the door and looked up at the walls searching for a clock. The clock said eight thirty. Ceremonies didn't start until nine. What was I supposed to do until then? I contemplated on just sitting and waiting inside the room with those other people. I shook my head and decided to be social. I looked around for anyone that I could get along with. Everyone was already talking to people. Maybe they all came to this college as friends or knew each other from high school. Since I wasn't in high school and spent my time as a suit of armor following my state alchemist brother on missions, I knew absolutely nobody. A girl reading a book walked by and she caught my attention right away. She had blue eyes behind glasses and had long brown hair braided. She looked like an older version of...Nina. Memories flooded back and I struggled to not throw up. The girl stopped walking and looked up from her book to stare at me. "Are you alright?" She asked, her voice laced with concern. I took in a breath and gave a weak smile.

"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you for asking." I said politely. I turned to walk inside. Maybe sitting in that room waiting wasn't such a bad idea after all. I opened the doors and looked for the chair in the front reserved for me. There were only five seats way up there. Three were for teachers, the other two for the top accepted. On a sheet of paper was Alphonse Elric. I picked it up off the chair and sat down. I kept my eyes glued to the floor deep in thoughts. I heard footsteps but didn't look up until they were in front of me. It was the Nina look alike girl. She picked up a piece of paper that read Nancy Dreher. Her name starts with an N too...okay now I was just being ridiculous.

She sat down in the chair next to me still reading. So she was the other top student. "Are you the boy from earlier?" She asked. I nodded andextended my hand. "Alphonse Elric, nice to meet you." I said, forcing a smile. She shook my hand. "Nancy Dreher. I see that we are both the top accepted. What high school did you go to?" She asked. I was hoping nobody would ask me that. "Uh, I didn't go to high school. I was busy helping my brother who at the time worked in the military." She seemed surprised. "You didn't go to high school and you're the top accepted? Quite an impressive feat. By any chance is your brother Edward Elric known back then as the Fullmetal Alchemist?" She asked.

"That's him." I said. Knowing what everyone usually does once they find out he's my brother I expected her to start getting excited. She remained calm and hardly seemed like she cared. "I've heard a lot about him. The girls in my high school would never be quiet. They would worship him and fall madly in love with him." I blinked in surprise before laughing. "No way! Well hate to break it to those girls but he's engaged." I said. "Not to worry, their interest died down when he disappeared from the public eye. Now these college girls seem to have their eyes on the new Fuhrer. I find it immature for them to hold to such fantasies." She explained.

"Mustang? He's engaged too." I said. She looked surprised. "How do you know that? I don't believe the newspapers have mentioned such a thing." She asked. "Well me and my brother are great friends with him. Back then we knew him when he was just a Colonel. He has helped us a lot, we owe him." I said. She flipped a page in her book. "Your brother is an alchemist prodigy and you have close relations to the Fuhrer. It's no surprise that you're one of the top accepted." She stated. "Well that's...wait, what are you trying to say?" I asked. I suddenly got a very bad feeling on what she was implying.

"No high school yet you're sitting in that chair. With your brother being the well known state alchemist prodigy and on top of that knowing the Fuhrer quite well, you have very high up connections. I'm surprised you're not just automatically graduated." She said. My mouth was wide open as I processed this. "Wait, are you saying I used them to get here?" I asked.

"You wouldn't be here otherwise." She said. Now I was angry. "What? The Fuhrer didn't even know I was going to college! And my brother has nothing to do with this! I took the entrance exams just like everyone else and I did it on my own! They weren't apart of me being here whatsoever." I tried to explain. She chuckled lightly.

"Okay, so maybe you didn't use the Fuhrer. Your last name, Elric, was more than enough to get you in. Do you honestly believe that just by passing the entrance exams you were accepted? Many people pass but few are selected. They chose you because you're the brother of a well known prodigy. Not only that they have made you one of the top accepted. Face it, you're receiving special treatment. Whether you planned this or not this is the outcome. Some of us actually had to work hard to get accepted here. I will not lose to you." She stated coldly. It made sense, all of it. I didn't ask for special treatment! It's all because of brother, I'm always just his shadow. I can't do anything on my own he's always effecting my life! I thought this was the one thing I earned myself. Now, that's obviously not the case.

"I'm sorry." I mumbled. I picked up my bag and started walking away. "Where are you going?" She asked. "I can't stay here if I didn't earn it on my own." I stated. "So you're selfishly throwing away the opportunity you were given that so many others would kill to have?" She asked. I stopped walking and glanced back at her. "They should give that spot to someone who deserves it, not me. Hopefully this time they will be fair." I continued walking until I was out the door. An old lady spotted me and ran up to me. "Alphonse Elric?" She asked. "Yeah that's me." I said annoyed. "I'm the principals wife, Mrs. Abendroth. We are very thrilled to have you here." She said happily.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think I can attend this college after all. Find someone else to fill my place, someone who deserves it." I told her. I started walking away when she grabbed my arm. "What do you mean? You can't just leave! We need brilliant minds at this university." Flattery was getting her nowhere. "Why don't you call up my brother? He's the one you really want." I hissed. I had to get away now before I lost my cool. "If you left us, what would your brother think?" That was the last straw. I yanked my arm away from her grip. "I DON'T CARE WHAT HE THINKS!" I shouted loudly. Everyone got quiet and stared at us.

"What's wrong with that guy? Doesn't he know who he's talking to?" A girl whispered to her friend. "Must be a spoiled rich brat." Her friend replied. I ran off the school campus out into the busy streets. I just wanted to be home. Edward, Edward, Edward. No matter what I do, it's all about Ed! I felt a bit guilty getting mad at brother, but he's not so great! I have my own talents separate from his! If only I could do one thing that doesn't involve him! What if I started going by Alphonse Hohenheim? I could talk to Mustang and see if we could legalize that name permanently. It is my dads name after all, I should be using it already.

I walked into central headquarters and was greeted by Armstrong. "Alphonse Elric how lovely it is to see you!" I sighed. "Hello. I need to talk to Mustang, where is he?" I asked, not wanting to waste any time. "You've come at an unfortunate time. Right after the beautiful engagement he went to Xing for business." He said.

"What? So he has been gone for three days? Why didn't Hawkeye tell us?" I asked. Before Armstrong could reply I ran outside the building. I calculated to see how long it would take Mustang to return. 'Lets see he left three days ago he probably used the new and very expensive train route. Judging by that he should arrive there today and then who knows how long his business last before he can return.' I sighed in frustration. I heard a familiar voice that I did not want to hear.

"Damn it! How could we have gotten mixed up? Now it will be another three days until we can leave!" It was brothers voice. "Calm down Ed, on the bright side now we can see Als opening ceremony if we hurry." I looked around for the source of the voices. They were only a few feet from me. I ran off into the crowd hoping they wouldn't see me. If they were going to opening ceremonies, they would find out soon enough.

**Eds pov**

I was a bit glad that we got the times mixed up. Now I could hear Als speech. Winry grabbed my arm and pulled me in the direction of the college. After a lot of running we reached it. There were no students outside, meaning it must of already started. We ran inside and found the room. Fortunately we made it just in time. Winry and I found two seats at the very back. We sat down and waited. I scanned the room for Al but couldn't see him. 'There are too many people here. I'll see him when he's on stage.' I thought. An old lady stepped on the stage and everyone grew silent.

"Welcome new students to Aben academy. I'm Mrs. Abendroth. I look forward to seeing each of you progress and grow throughout these years. All of you are truly special to have been accepted, but there are two who have gone above and beyond. Please welcome Nancy Dreher." The crowd clapped and I clapped along. A girl stood up from her seat and walked on stage. I gasped, she looked like an older Nina! We listened to her speech and clapped at the end. I got excited, knowing Al was next. The old lady returned to the stage.

"Now our second one was going to be Alphonse Elric, but for reasons that are unknown he is not going to be attending here after all." I gasped. Not attending? WHAT? I got up and Winry grabbed my arm. "Where are you going?" She asked. "I'm going to find Al and find out what's going on!" I got away from her grip and ran out the room. What was Al thinking? I had to find him and get answers.

**Carstens pov**

I was caught up in my book until Ling pulled it away. "Alkahestry, huh? Are you interested in learning it?" He asked. "I have no need for it at this point." I said. I got up my chair and started walking away. A servant lady entered the room. "Dinner will be ready soon." She said. "Great! Hey, has the Fuhrer arrived yet?" I stopped dead in my tracks. The Fuhrer of Amestris was coming?

"The Fuhrer is coming?" I asked. Ling nodded. "Yep! I invited him so we could discuss trade routes and sign another peace treaty. As long as I'm emperor I'm going to make sure Amestris and Xing stay friends." I hardly heard what he said after that. The Fuhrer of Amestris was coming here! He could figure out me and Gisela and like the old Fuhrer experiment on us! I ran into the garden. Gisela and that kimono girl were still looking at flowers. "Gisela I need to talk to you." I said before pulling her away. "Whats wrong?" She asked. I whispered into her ear "The Fuhrer is coming here." She gasped. "What do we do?" "We leave." I told her.

"Do we have to?" She asked. "Do you want to be experimented on?" She quickly shook her head. "Alright then lets go." We made a dash to the front door. Ling asked us where we were going but we ignored him. We had to get away before the Fuhrer saw us! I swung open the door and...

There was a man with black hair and dark eyes. He wore a military blue uniform. The stars gave his rank away. Fuhrer Mustang.


	20. Chapter 19

**I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get a chapter up this week but thankfully I'm able to. I didn't edit it much sorry for any mistakes!**

**D****isclaimer: I'M AMERICAN OKAY!? XD**

** Als pov**

"Alphonse open this door!" Ed shouted, banging on the door. I continued to sit dazed wrapped in a blanket on the couch. I knew he would be coming soon. Should I have not come home? No, that would only make him more worried. "Al, just talk to me. Please." He begged, his voice full of concern. It must be shocking to find out your little brother has refused the best college in central. I had my reasons. I glared at the door, debating on what to do. "Alphonse I'll kick this door down!" He shouted. I had no doubt about that.

Sighing, I gave in and opened the door before I would have to apologize to the landlord. "What?" I asked coldly. He stared at me wide eyed. It must of been my face. I didn't have a mirror but I could guess it looked stern and angry. "Al...what happened?" He asked, placing a hand on my shoulder. I grabbed his hand and swatted it away. His eyes showed sadness at the gesture I just gave him. "Nothing, _brother._ Go away." Never before had I said that word laced with hate. Why was I acting like this? Brother didn't deserve it. As always he did the opposite of what I told him to do. Instead he shut the door and stepped closer.

"Look, why don't you just tell me what's eating at you? It might help." He suggested. I grew angry and stormed away locking myself in the bedroom. It was because of him that I could never be treated normal. It was all because of him that it seemed like I didn't accomplish anything on my own! Ed came over and knocked on the door. "I'm serious Al! I'll kick it down!" I didn't care anymore, he could do whatever he liked. I would just fix it with alchemy later. "Go ahead!" I shouted back. There was slight hesitation before I saw the door go flying in. Impressive kick.

"You can't run now!" He said, smirking. It reminded me of when we were kids. I would go off and it would always be Ed who found me. I glanced at the window. "Oh really?" I asked, grinning. I walked over to the window and swung it open before being tackled to the ground. We looked at each other and burst into laughter. The way we were acting was so nostalgic. We sat up and Ed got serious again. "Now will you tell me what's going on?" He asked. I sighed. "I don't know what's wrong with me. A girl who was the other top accepted said that the only reason I was there was because of my relation to you, and me knowing Mustang." I explained. Ed grew angry and clenched his fist.

"What! You worked hard on your own to get in there! How dare she do that to you!" Of course, leave it to Ed to get overly protective. "If it looked that way to her, it probably would look the same to everyone else. I just...couldn't work in an environment like that. I want to be treated normally, not with people thinking I received special treatment." I hung my head low as the words left my mouth. "I understand but you shouldn't let them stop you. Just ignore them and continue on with your studies." He said. "Easier said than done." I mumbled. He chuckled and ruffled my hair. "You can do it. If anyone is mean to you I'll kick their ass." We laughed more until our sides hurt.

"It was a rash and unwise decision for me to make. I'll go back next week and show them that I'm a hard worker just like everyone else." I exclaimed. "That's the spirit!" We were interrupted by a knock on the door. I opened it and there was Winry. "Al, are you okay?" She asked. "Everything's fine. Ed talked me into common sense." I answered. No matter what happens I will always have Winry and Ed in my life. I'm able to face anything as long as I can have a family to return home to.

**Roys pov **

'A young boy and girl with silver hair. Fullme- Edward described the siblings like that. Could these two be them?' I asked myself. The last thing I was expecting upon a business trip was finding the two kids that I've been trying to find this entire time. If I want to successfully capture them I must remain seemingly clueless. "Hello." I said in an attempt to be friendly. They stared at me with a scared look in their eyes. It had to be them. A servant came and shoved them away. "Oh! Fuhrer Mustang you're just in time! Dinner is almost ready. Allow me to escort you to the table." She bowed. "Please do, thank you." I didn't miss the blush she got.

She began walking and I glanced over my shoulder. "Hey Havoc, are you coming?" I asked. He stood outside wondering if he should put his cigarette down. He sighed and dropped it. "I'm coming boss!" He shouted cheerfully and ran inside nearly running into a vase. "Careful. I do not want to have to pay for unnecessary expenses." He saluted. "Yes sir!" I glanced over my shoulder to see the kids staring at me. They held hands tightly and shivered. Regardless of what I told Edward I had no intention of killing them without a fair reason. They won't believe that, I had to act with caution. Perhaps later I can talk to Emperor Ling about this privately.

The dinner room had many tables decorated with red and gold. The amount of siblings the Emperor had was impressive. The room was loud with chatter. Emperor Ling saw me and waved. "Hey! Long time no see! Why don't you have a seat?" I nodded and sat down next to him. "I have come to discuss with you new possible trade routes. I'm also hoping that our countries can remain peaceful for more years." I explained. "Done. Don't worry about it I'm more than happy to make sure our countries stay friends!" He said cheerfully. "Friends" is one way to put it I suppose.

**Giselas pov **

"Brother, what do we do? Should we use our powers?" I whispered. The Fuhrer was only a few feet from us! He didn't seem like he knew who we were. Other than the hello he didn't even give a second thought to us. Were we safe after all? "No, act like normal kids. If we use our powers he will know who we are. Also, being nervous will only cause suspicion. Just follow my lead." He said. I watched in anticipation as he approached the fuhrer. What happened next was totally unexpected. "Wow! You're the Fuhrer! Can I see your hat? Can I, can I?" He begged. My jaw dropped to the floor. Big brother you are just full of surprises. The blonde man next to the Fuhrer in a military uniform burst out laughing. "Come on, boss! Let the kid see it!" He nudged him playfully. The Fuhrer sighed and handed it to him.

"Wow! It's the real deal!" Carsten said pretending to be amazed. He slid it on and went across the room pretending to be a police officer. "Wow you're sure acting a lot happier than earlier!" Ling commented. Soon waiters and waitresses came out with loads of food. Me and Carsten sat down next to Mei and Ling. "Everyone, lets have a toast for the guests of honor. These two saved my life!" He said cheerfully, pointing at us. "Thanks to them I was able to be here today. Cheers!" The room was filled with echoes of cheers. They all had wine except us we had water. The front door swung open and the guard from earlier at the border walked in. We slightly jumped in our seats.

"Emperor Ling! I am here to inform you that two illegal immigrants from Amestris-" He stopped dead in his sentence when he saw us. "That's them!" He shouted. Everyone stared at us. There was a long moment of silence when suddenly Ling burst out into laughter. "Oh man that takes me back to when I was an illegal immigrant!" He chuckled. Me and Carsten sent him a confused gaze. "I went to Amestris a few years ago for my country but I came illegally. I ran into a short blonde guy and a suit or armor who helped me out. In the end I got dragged into their countries affairs." He explained.

"That's quite the story." I said. Wait, suit of armor? Short blonde guy? Ed isn't short but maybe he could have been back then. Al said he used to be a suit of armor. Could this guy have met Ed and Al? I shook the thought away and continued eating. The guard coughed to remind us of his presence. "Should I take them to jail now?" He asked. Ling shook his head. "No, of course not! They saved my life. I'm the emperor and you can't go against my decision." The guard bowed and left. After dinner the servants prepared a bath for me. Once I was done a servant escorted me to a guest room. It had two beds and Carsten sat on one of them. I laid down on mine. It was so comfy, unlike the hot sand.

"We will leave first thing tomorrow morning. We can't stay here for long with the Fuhrer here." He said. I nodded. "That's fine. It seems like he doesn't suspect us at all. Maybe Ed and Al really didn't rat us out." I explained. I knew they were good people after all. I fumbled with my stone as I grew sleepier. I decided now would be a good time to ask what has been bothering me. "Hey, Carsten?" I asked. "Mhmm?" Was his reply. "What...What happened when the military came to the orphanage? For some reason it's all a blur." I said. I noticed him stiffing. "They just handed us over no questions asked. Our friends and caretakers betrayed us." He told me.

I gasped. That was so hard to believe, we were all a family! "Are you sure? Even Dayna didn't have a problem with handing us over?" I asked. He stiffened again. "She was the most pleased to see us leaving." I gasped. It was horrible! Dayna was the oldest in the orphanage. She was an older sister to all of us! How could she? "I see. Goodnight." I mumbled sadly. It was going to be hard to have good dreams with this on my mind.

** Carstens pov**

It's for the best if she believes that's what happened. She was so traumatized her memory of that day was wiped. No, she can never know what happened. It was too much for her to handle that's why her mind erased it. However, I know what happened that day. It will haunt me for eternity. We lived at an orphanage at the side of central. We had a big lake to play by and the grass was always green. There were nine of us. Easton. He was seven at the time. He loved sports and we would play soccer for hours. He would never win a game, and would get angry. It would take me forever to get him to calm down.

Bianka was a quiet girl. She sat in the grass reading books and poetry. I used to pick on her and call her a book worm. She had glasses and was the definition of a nerd. She was older than me by one year. Christoph was my best friend. He was a year younger than me. We would go around pranking people and doing dare devil things. One time we made a zip line out of the clothes line. It didn't go well and we both ended up with a broken arm. There were the twins Emmaline and Emilee. I could never tell them apart. They were both five. They would get mad when people mistook who they were. One time Emilee stole Biankas glasses in an attempt to make her different. She couldn't see well with them on and ran into several things.

Frances was the second to oldest. He was fifteen. He had a good heart and would always lend us a hand. We used to joke about him being in love with Dayna. He would always turn red in the face and stutter giving us proof that he did. Then there's me and Gisela. Last but not least, Dayna. She was the oldest, being sixteen. She was at the orphanage since a young age. Her parents were killed by some military soldiers but never grew a hate towards the military. She was Ishvallan and her race was completely wiped out. Even so, she would tell us not to hate people that do cruel acts to us. To move on and always keep a kind and pure heart.

Me and Gisela looked up to her a lot. She seemed so strong and always laughed and smiled. She would play with all of us and make up new and exciting games. I would tell her about my dream of becoming a state alchemist so me and Gisela could leave the orphanage and take care of ourselves. I never had a natural talent. Dayna on the other hand was a genius. I told her she should join the military but she said she wanted a family life not one of danger. There was our good hearted caretaker who ran the orphanage. Mrs. Judy was an old lady but would always try to play our games. She had a daughter and son, Gilbert and Hilda. They helped take care of all of us.

On that fateful day we were playing outside like we always do. Men in blue uniforms came to the yard. Dayna and Frances pushed us behind them. Mrs. Judy came and talked to them. They said they were looking for two kids to use to help "benefit the fate of Amestris" I was foolish and ran up to them shouting pick me. I just wanted to be able to take care of Gisela. When Gisela came over they seemed satisfied. Mrs. Judy got angry and wanted to know what they were planning on doing. They wouldn't answer her at first, but gave in.

I couldn't believe my ears. Test subjects? Dayna grabbed us and pulled us away from the soldiers. There was a long argument and they weren't going to hand us over no matter what. Then, the worst of the worst happened. They pulled out their guns and killed everyone except for me and Gisela. The kids tried to run away but they weren't fast enough. They would watch the others get killed before getting killed themselves. Gisela was so terrorized she passed out. I could only stare in horror. Soon, the once green grass was soaked with red. Then we were taken and all the other stuff happened. After escaping I returned to the orphanage. I don't know how but they managed to bury any trace of the massacre. I went after Gisela and saved her and we ran away to Resembool to be safe. I noticed that she had completely forgotten about what happened that day. I rolled over in my bed and glanced at her sleeping form. Yes, this was all for the best for her to never remember.

**Roys pov**

I was able to get Ling alone for a discussion. "So what's so important?" He asked, still eating dumplings. How he manages to each so much and stay thin I will never know. "Those kids, they're wanted by the military. They are special. They were fused with philosopher stones at a young age. The girl can change surroundings and her appearance and the boy can control people. They're really sixteen and fourteen. They have killed many soldiers but it's my conclusion that they want nothing more than to be left alone. They were hiding in Resembool where Edward and Alphonse live and caused problems with them." I explained. He tapped his chin thinking. "Wow, that's incredible! They should stay here forever so they can help my clan!" Ling joked. "This is a serious matter. As it turns out they don't have forever." Ling stopped joking and grew serious. "What do you mean?" He asked.

Two weeks ago me and Riza Hawkeye went up north for investigating. We came across an old man who was the only survivor of the team that did the experiment. He gave us his research notes and after a day of studying I noticed something. The serum they used with the philosopher stone creates a chemical reaction similar to a fire. A very slow one that grows as time passes. I talked with him and he said he noticed this and they were going to kill the girl to end her misery but her brother came and killed them. He took his notes and ran up north hoping the boy wouldn't find him. The notes showed that they wouldn't notice signs until the sixth year. Such as their abilities not working properly. Fu- Edward told me he was able to escape the girls illusion twice. That's a sign of it weakening. By the seventh year-"

"You don't mean to say they're..." He interrupted. I nodded. "By the seventh year it will have completely burned the stone. Since it has been their way of living for the past six years they can't survive without it. Once it's burned completely...they'll die."


End file.
